I am a new landlord in southern New Jersey. I have a 3-story house with 6 total 6x12 compartments and 3 Troyer horizontal gourds underneath. I saw a lot of martin activity in the 3 gourds and top floor of the house in the past 4 weeks. There were definitely 3 pairs. A nest check 10 days ago showed leaves in 2 of the gourds and 1 of the top floor compartments. I had placed pine needles in each compartment and gourd to give the birds a start. Last Wednesday we had a bad storm, afterwards the martins didn't seem to be around. I did another nest check yesterday and found 1 gourd with 4 eggs and another with 3. But no martins. When I lowered the housing 2 martins swooped down but didn't come back after I raised the housing. I haven't seen any martins at my housing for the last 5 days and there are nests with eggs. What happened?
Two other factors:
1) there are house sparrows on the 1st and 2nd floor of the house, I've ripped out their nests at least 4 times but they keep rebuilding
2) a neighbor put up some new gourd housing last Wednesday, I saw martins around them briefly but not any pairs or residents.
Should I clean out my gourd nests, put in new pine needles and try again? Did the sparrows drive the martins away? I never saw any fights, the martins seemed ok with the gourds. Should I close up the house to keep the sparrows away?
I'm disappointed, I was really hoping for a successful 1st season.
Terri
Tuckerton NJ