Purple Martin Forum

Laura See Ray-04 post with pic's of his site. I would try an owl guard similar to what he made for his trio's and if you have a SREH door and a pole guard to keep raccoon's and snakes from climbing up the pole, then there is not much more you can do. Since they have eggs they should adjust to any mo...

There are pleanty here in MI I have tried to start 2 different satelite colonies this year in really prime spots, both on lakes. Both set-ups were installed 10/14 days ago to coincide with SY returns and both have TRES defending the whole set-up from any other birds. One is a T-14 with 4 gourds and ...

Laura

What is the size of the compartments the nests are in? Are they SREH or round holes? Are you home during the day to monitor?

Owl's are sneaky, so are starlings. I don't know about snakes, they're not a problem around here.

I would do whatever you can to protect that last nest!

Ray

Very nice!

Have you had owl problems, or just trying to avoid them?

I just wondered how the 2x4 welded wire guards work for you. Obviously the Martins took to them just fine.

Congrats on a thriving colony.

Matt

I have used the glue traps but only early in the season before the PM's arrive. Don't give up on the bait trap you have either. My experience is they are very hit and miss. I might go three weeks with nothing and the catch 5 or 6 in one day. So keep it out you never know. I think they (bait traps) ...

Well... I'd say he tried his best.

Looking for some advice... I have a male bluebird that is very aggressive. He runs off squrells & blue jays from the bird feeder, S&S from the martin house, he's been fun to watch. The other day though I saw him chasing away martins that were trying to land on the housing. I only had 1 sy pair last ...

Dakota lady
Try some liquid wrench on the pole sections that are stuck together. If that doesn't work you can heat it up with a torch and dowse it in cold water. The quick drastic change in temp might free it up.
Congrats on your birds, hope they stick around and start your colony this year.

Jr2
My guess would be chipping sparrow nest, their eggs look a lot like hosp eggs.
Hosp do nest in evergreens often around here but usually toward the top of the tree and something thick like a spruce.

Stephen, I have an older Sony model #CFD-ZW755 boom box that works really well. It plugs in inside my gazebo and has speaker jacks so I have a power horn mounted to the facia board pointed up through the middle of my houising. It's capable of programming to turn on and shut off at any time with a "r...

This video shows how long a GHO legs really are at about 45 seconds or so. They look close to a ft. long. There is something to be said for owl guards on housing!

http://www.dogwork.com/owfo8/

Thanks Matt, I wish I knew if that was him or not, from what I've heard/ read it would be pretty early for a 2yo bird to be back already but know way to know for sure. Ben, You are probably right about the cold wind coming off the lake right now. There is a pretty big colony on the North side of the...

Yesterday when I looked out and saw a female swoop through my backyard over top of the down housing I couldn't believe it! But this morning when I looked out and there were 3 on the rack I was shocked to say the least, esp. since last year was my first year having any. They were here most of the mor...

Tree swallows use feathers alot in their nests, sparrow nests will usually fill the entire compartment

For instance...
I picked up this T-14 for $50 with nest trays!
A little work and some fresh paint and I think it looks pretty good.

That's funny
Shrike's are cool birds we don't have alot of them around here but every now and then I see one

Hey Ray
One way to tell a redshoulder hawk in flight from a diatance is by the windows in their wings. You can see thru the feathers of redshoulders wings which makes them easy to identify

Jeff & Paul Here is a pic you guys might enjoy since we obviously have some of the same interests. Its alot more impressive when its not cropped way down. I would have to agree that spec's and snow's are better tasting but there must be ways to cook Canada's and make them pretty tasty. There was a s...

LOL, because of the taste.
Your probably right about my goose cooking ability but I'll take a real ribeye over the ribeye of the sky anyday!
I like them made into bratwurst or hot sticks though

"sky carp" is what they go by around here, yuk!