Purple Martin Forum

Hi Steve, I am glad you had a good season in spite of the weather and other difficulties. Now you can relax a bit and make plans for next year :) Speaking of birds chasing each other, that is what cut my martin season short this year. A pair of subs started staying over night for three nights but a ...

So glad they finally came to you Daryl, couldn't happen to a more deserving guy!I wish you many more in years to come. I had a pair of subadults spend three nits at my site this spring and I thought I might get lucky but the Bluebirds that were nesting in a nearby BB box didn't like sharing their ro...

I have a pair of Tree Swallows nesting in my yard that are about to fledge their young and they are getting more and more persistent at dive bombing me as I move about my yard. They get so close to my head that I can feel them go through my hair and I can hear the wind in their wings and feel the wi...

I gave up and put the birdsong player away. I had a pair of subbies stay for three nits and then the Bluebirds and Tree Swallows chased the martins away. The martins put up a fight but were outnumbered. What a disappointment. All I can do now is wait again for next year.

I bet you don't spend too much time outdoors there when its -20 and the wind is blowing hard do you?
Nice site though, I wish you good luck.

Mark, I am only using one the other two are in storage no need to have all of them up with no martins at my site.

Mark, I have three of those houses. Didn't have to pay for them though. Several years ago one of my neighbors called me up and asked if I wanted some metal bird houses that someone his wife works with was throwing away. They came complete with everything including the cement that held the poles in t...

Hi there Mark, good to see someone from my area posting on this forum. Like you I have been trying for martins for a long time now, started trying in 1997 and finally in 2011 had a nesting pair of subbies which laid five eggs and fledged three young that were banded by Kelly Applegate before they fl...

You guys out east are having the winter that we had here in MN. last winter. We got blasted with a foot of snow in November which was gone by Christmas, we have been looking at bare ground or just a couple of inches here and there like we have on the ground right now. I am not complaining, and the w...

On the topic of cold weather last week my wife and I flew down to Tampa Florida and then drove down to Venice where our daughter got married on the beach on Valentines Day. I l was rather surprised at how cold it was there was a steady north wind blowing the whole time we were there. Nobody lingered...

Steve, Like the others I really enjoyed the photo's of your natural gourds. I copied a lot of your entrances on some of the gourds that I have grown over the past few years but they have gone unused at my site. I did take a few over to my cousin Rays site and the martins took to them right away. I t...

Some of the buttons are gone on my pole too, I will be calling to get more. Thanks for the reminder Matt!

I would love to make resolution's about being a better landlord but I kinda gave up on that, the reason being I have had martins nesting at my site only once since I first put up housing back in 1997 and the site I manage at a local campgrounds near my place failed to get martins back last season. I...

The only advise I can give you is to get the seeds in the ground as early as possible so the gourds will have plenty of time to mature. I do grow gourds here in my garden in east central Mn. but I do not always have good luck with getting a long enough season for the gourds to fully mature. Good luck!

I will go for New Years Day, what a way to bring in a New Year!

Yes, the Christmas Forum! Always glad to see it, it also means that the days will soon be getting longer and that alone in its self is reason to be happy!

I am as bad as the rest of you all, martins are on my mind every day. When I turn I turn on my computer the Purple Martin Forum is set to come up first on the screen.

It is always good to see at this time of year when we up here are just getting into a long and bleak winter that people are starting to get things ready for the coming martin season in their area. To me it helps the winter months go by faster.

Steve, if I did not live so far away from you I would come over and help you get things set up for next season. It would be a treat for me to see your site firsthand! My last summers season up here was not the best that we have had, no martins at my site, no martins at the site I manage at a local c...

Hi Brandon, haven't heard from you in a while. I hope all is ok. I take it that you will not be able to host martins at your new home?