Extension poles

Janal · Tue Apr 28, 2020 3:51 pm

We have had purple martins for over 15 years. We moved and have tried for five years to entice a colony. They are in our area but so far have ignored us. We’ve tried moving the house and did get one pair but the babies died. We think it was a pair of irresponsible teenagers! We also have the recording playing almost all day. The only thing we can think of is to make the house higher. We have the Trio grandpa that we can raise and lower via a rope. Is there an extension pole we could use, if so, how much higher should we go?

We miss our martins.

Thank you for your help.

deancamp · Tue Apr 28, 2020 5:47 pm

How high is it now? Nearby trees? Is there anyway for you to post pictures of your site?

Janal · Tue Apr 28, 2020 7:02 pm

I will take pictures after it stops raining! I took pics and sent them into the magazine a couple of years ago and the response was that there seemed to be enough clearance from trees and house. Our house sits below street level, which I think might be causing the problem. For a couple of years we had the pole in the middle of our backyard as the trees were at least 20’ away with no luck. I’m still thinking that being below street level is the problem which is why we thought about raising the house. I believe the mounting pole that came with the trio is 14’ . Any suggestions will be welcomed.

deancamp · Tue Apr 28, 2020 8:55 pm

Interested to see the pictures, I think that will give everyone a better perspective of what you have and may notice something that's slipping past you. One thing in your comments that I noticed is that 20' from your trees doesn't sound like much. That could be a big problem.

Janal · Tue Apr 28, 2020 9:25 pm

Will get some as soon as it stops raining in a few days. Thank you

Janal · Wed Apr 29, 2020 12:53 pm

I don’t think my pictures are attaching. I clicked on the attachment tab then clicked on photos and said done. I don’t see where they are attaching. What am I doing wrong

Janal · Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:00 pm

I’ll try again. The first two are where the house is currently located. You can see how far below we are from the street.

Whippy · Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:08 pm

Janal wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 29, 2020 12:53 pm
I don’t think my pictures are attaching. I clicked on the attachment tab then clicked on photos and said done. I don’t see where they are attaching. What am I doing wrong

Janal,

Re-size the pictures. I do all of my attachment photos to less than 150kb. They'll still show up in good size.

For example: This one is 55KB

Coolwhips

Janal · Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:45 pm

I'll try again. The two following pictures show where the house is now. You can see how far below street level we are. It's hard to see the house but it is near the front right corner of the fence. It's about 25 to 30' from the corner of the house.

I'm going to also send other pictures of where we use to have it.

Janal · Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:55 pm

The following shows where we use to have the house. The ground post is still there. We thought it would be good because it's the spot that is farest from the house or trees, at least 30'. But, since we didn't get any birds we thought it was too low from the surrounding area.

Next will show pictures of where our last chance will be.

Whippy · Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:59 pm

Janal,

I would move the pole away from the fence. And if that's a bush under it then that is also part of the problem.

I've not yet seen a house that has been attached to a fence that has been occupied.

There are two Trio Castles near me. Neither of them are occupied and they are both on the fence. One of them is only a street over from me. I'm almost full with 24 cavities, that Trio Castle on the fence is vacant. So there are plenty of Martins here.

That would be a good place to start.

Coolwhips

Janal · Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:37 pm

This is our last shot, we could move it to the right of the sidewalk where it meets the driveway. No trees, fairly good flight path but would be it too close to the garage?

When we lived in San Antonio, Texas, our house was in the corner of two privacy fences. We had Martins for 15 years but they stopped coming because our neighbors bushes got too tall. Same goes for my folks, I think bushes bother them more than fences.

Since nobody has said anything I'm guessing an extension doesn't seem workable. If you don't think the house would be too close to the garage we could try moving it there.

Thanks again for your help.

Jan

Whippy · Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:01 pm

That looks like a good location. Put it about 5 feet off the driveway and 20-30 feet from the house if possible. They'll like the human traffic on a daily basis. From that view of the photo there doesn't seem to be any trees or bushes in the fly way and the pole will be free of objects.

I'm sure others will chime in with some other ideas. Height of the pole I've read 12 to 17 feet is a good height.

Hope you find a solution.

Coolwhips.

deancamp · Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:07 pm

I have no experience with the pole extension thought. It looks like you would have to add alot to make much difference. I agree on moving it away from the fence. Predators will use it to help them climb your pole, martins might realize that as well. It looks close to the tree to the left which will soon over grow it. I think it needs to be in an area where it looks like it is standing there all by itself, not close to anything. If by your garage is your most open area, put it like Whippy suggested. That open field beside your house looks good....

Janal · Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:27 pm

Wish I could use the empty lot but one day soon they’ll build a house on it. It’s hard to believe I’ve got a 20,000 something lit and I can’t find a good spot for one little oil’ house. We may try by the driveway and hope the garage won’t be too close

Thank you all.