Purple Martin Forum

Wow. That's really goofy. I can understand, even sympathize with, the symphony's plight. Their business is music, and in a way, the martins are just destructive pests. They're not naturalists. They're not bird lovers. They're not tourism promoters. They're musicians. And from their perspective, tons...

Our first year we had zero visitors. Our second year we had a few regulars, but no successful breeding. Our third year we had 4 cavities with babies. Our 4th year 12 out of 14 cavities were full with babies. So patience is the key.

I use decoys (2). Since my colony is reasonably well established I probably don't need them for attraction any more. But we have the occasional Coopers hawk around here. For some reason, our Coopers seem to go for the decoys, which then lets the PMs scatter and then gang up on the Coopers. So, I'm a...

I don't do regular nest checks. But I do keep a close eye on the housing (a single T-14) and if anything is out of sorts I get involved. Our T-14 is fairly close to house and garden, so I am able to spend a fair bit of time morning and afternoon on the lookout. My PMs are quite friendly, and past ne...

Really, figuring out when to put your house up is a matter of experience. The best way to get experience is, well, to put your house up and get some experience..Once you become an established landlord you'll pretty much know when to put the house(s) up. I typically put our house up around the time I...

Well heck yeah. They live in a T-14 at one end of our vegetable patch, so every day when I'm out gardening I talk to them. They will occasionally fly by to see what I'm up to.

Every year I have several house finches that hang out on the perch bars over my T-14. There are occasional squabbles, but no serious problems. And, so far, no efforts to nest in the cavities.

My PMs squabble all the time. If anything, all the noise attracts more PMs. And really, a noisy nest is waaaaaaaaaay better than a silent one.

I probably could. But I live at the beach. That means anything that can rust, rusts. So my winch is incredibly rusted. It goes up fine. But going down means spending 20 minutes and jiggering around with a monkey wrench. And, well, the HOSP is gone. For now...

I have a single T-14. I've been a landlord for a few years now. Generally, in the spring we get off to a rough start because there's always some obnoxious HOSP that wants a cavity. I'm not a good enough shot, unfortunately. And they are clever birds. They can always see me coming. Usually it means t...

I wouldn't worry too much. I had one cavity that lagged more than 2 weeks beyond the rest this year. The parents kept feeding until yesterday, when there was a small party and the fledgelings left the nest. It was kind of weird. 12/14 cavities had nests this year, and 11 of them fledged all at once ...

Thanks for the advice, all. Option 4 it is. A trap has been ordered.

Nest check reveals 7 nests with green leaves, but no eggs yet.

We have a single T-14, and have recently acquired a pair of HOSPs. Eleven of the other cavities have breeding pairs of PMs, so we are doing OK. There is even interest in the other 3 cavities, including the one the HOSPs are interested in. We had the same problem last year (same cavity, too). I bough...

I have a 30x14 semi-in-ground pool about 25 ft from my T-14. The pool deck is about 4' off the ground. So we can actually get fairly close to the house. Our presence does not disturb the birds, though sometime they will fly off when we walk by the house. They don't drink from the pool, but we have a...

I use a 3" decking screw, straight through the body of the decoy and into any wooden surface.

This purple martin business is one learning experience after another. Last year was bad - a snake ate all my eggs, despite having netting up. The problem, I think, was a less than wonderful job putting up the netting. This year I used a Troyer predator guard, which has so far met the need. As of las...

I'm afraid I don't have enough ammo to shoot all the starlings I see.

If I ever say tree swallows are cute again, shoot me. Last year I had a brief TS invasion, but they soon left and were replaced by PMs. I thought this year might be similar. Wrong. This year, a trio of TSs have occupied my T-14. I gave them a few days to leave, but then noticed nesting behavior, cop...

One of my guilty confessions is that I really like tree swallows. They can be incredibly cute, and goofy. They usually try to nest in my bluebird houses and are comical in their efforts. Last fall before migration we had a murmuration right over our house - there were maybe a thousand birds, and the...

Oh no - that's really too bad. Did the parents stick around, tho? I had between 6-8 regular birds and several partial nests beyond the single clutch. About all I see today is the SY male who had been nesting. At least I think it's him from the call. Who knows, they might all come back, but for now ...