Purple Martin Forum

Sonja, it has been a brutal year for heat and humidity! I'm sorry about your jumpers, we've not had to deal with that yet. We do use shade cloth, which I double and then attach to a rectangular structure. Using heavy duty fishing line, I sew the cloth tight to a frame (made by my husband) of garden ...

Wish we had your wide open site! You're doing everything you can, especially trapping HOSP. I've included a link for using electric fence material for a predator guard. We made this improvement on our two poles last season and we sleep well at night. Brad Biddle is the expert on this topic: https://...

Wow, Wow, Wow!! So happy for you and Buddy!! Hope you have a wonderful season!

Wow, Doug, what an amazing story about Buddy and a real testament to your love of, and dedication to purple martins! We have bluebirds nesting every year, but for me, there's nothing to compare to the anticipation, excitement, and attachment we feel towards our purple martins. Your relationship with...

Tom, I may be obsessed with PM's. My husband and I are retired and I spend most of my days watching birds. Those six fledged that morning, and sadly, did not return. Our other fledglings returned up to 13 nights! We hope to visit a roost at some point, the closest one usually appears in Wichita, sev...

Year 8 of trying to attract Purple Martins. We've been successful with at least 1 pair each year but for two separate years (the very first year, after realizing the damage the dreaded HOSP can do.) This year we had 4 nesting pairs, 3 successful. The last 6 hatchlings fledged 8 days ago. One major i...

Mike, for the last 2 years we have seen an increase in crows in our neighborhood. Neighbors have reported crows raiding rabbit nests and flying off with the young, repeatedly, until the nest is bare. I know our bluebirds sound the alarm whenever a crow is close to their nest box. I can only imagine ...

Lol, nope, he was eliminated. My family purchased this at birdbarrier.com, it’s called the sparrow trap door. We also bought an extra call module to use with other traps. Hope it’s okay to provide this info, not selling these but wanted to show they can be effective when all other avenues are exhaus...

I've had a male house sparrow harassing my bluebirds and PM's for the past 5 days. I only have 2 nesting pairs of PM's, one at the Trio house and one at the gourd rack, and also have visiting SY birds. Usually the Spare-O-Doors work great (I have one in the Trio house, and two in a small PM house in...

David, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! Prayers for your continued success this season. We have been lucky to have one pair nesting all but one year over the last 6 years, , but how disheartening to see a house wren destroy eggs, or the dreaded house sparrow do the same (we've watched both). It's stressful but...

So sorry Kyler! Bad week for Kansas storms. How did you all fare on Tuesday evening? We were in the RV on our annual Colorado trip and had to shelter in place at the Oakley truck stop to ride out 70mph winds, that had just passed through Colby area. Know you just moved your houses too. Good luck wit...

Thank you Matt! We offer a Trio house with modified apartments and 3 floors, and on a separate pole we offer 4 gourds. We've had success in both the house and the gourds, but not in the same season. We're encouraged for next year as we also had a lot of regular visitors, more so than usual.

Just wanted to say thank you for a wonderful video recapping the 2019 season! Sweet, funny, and dramatic! Our two hatchlings were about a day older than the ones in your video, yet fledged on day 31. We offered shade to the one occupied gourd and somehow they survived 112 heat index the four days be...

Oh Kyler, so very sorry for you and your family! Your grandfather must have been so proud of you and your dedication to your thriving colony. You are definitely paying it forward with all the help you have given local enthusiasts. We learn so much from older generations, would also like to hear more...

Possibly a weasel? I found this online when searching for bird predators. Article states: "If birds are dead but not eaten and have parts still intact, a weasel may have attacked the flock. Members of the weasel family, including mink, kill just for the fun of killing. Often, the chickens’ bodi...

UPDATE: trapped two male sparrows today. A male and female HOSP were hopping on the gourd rack. I don't have an insert trap for the gourds so set up the trap door box with sparrow call module. Did not have any luck until we lowered the gourds to about 5 feet above the trap, then got the male HOSP wi...

Glad others are using the trap door box with sparrow call module. I found it works best when a male HOSP has claimed a gourd or a cavity and regularly perches outside said cavity making his annoying call, then placing the trap on the ground below the cavity. After reading about sparrow trapping on t...

Will be waiting to hear! Trapped the first male sparrow last week, first one we have seen this year. Got him in a Spare-O-Door.

Good luck!

LisaJ, you might look at this topic on the forum, more ways to trap house sparrows. I also sent you an email. Hope you get that sparrow!

https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... ox#p268209

Good luck Kyler! Your layout looks great!