Purple Martin Forum

Thank you Rob, Phil and C.C. for the feedback. I will follow the advice you have all given. Regardless of the outcome I will be sure to post an update in a few days as to the outcome. Have a good day.

Thank you for the response, I appreciate it. My gut agrees with your advice CC. I'll leave the egg alone and do another nest check in a couple of days.

Good afternoon all; I am attempting to start a new colony. This season I finally was able to attract a pair of sub adults. They built a nest in my T-14 and laid the first egg on June 10th. Second egg was laid on the 11th. When I brought down the nest to check it on 12th both eggs were punctured by a...

Thanks for the response. I am going to set up a box out on the front of my property next spring. Looks like human interaction is not required to attract nesting pairs. I appreciate all of the feedback, thank you all.

Thanks for the response defend. To answer your question about trees I’ll try an attach a photo . I was wondering if anyone knows of a successful colony that is isolated from much human contact. I’ve personally never seen one myself. Curious if they exist?

Good morning everyone. I currently have a T14 near my house (approximately 40ft away). I have had visitors every spring, but nothing seems to stick. My current location is not ideal, too treed in I believe. I have another location on my property that I feel would work better, downfall is that it’s a...

I struggled to find a way to attach the decoies to perches. Found this method is good, you can rotate them in various angles also. Seems to hold very firm. "Gorilla Glue" is used to attach decoy to clamp. See attached photo.

Not sure as I am in the same boat as well, still trying to lure in my first pair of birds. There was a discussion earlier this season on this forum called "100 per cent occupancy". May be some information in there to help answer your question. Are you seeing any martins at your site? Also ...

Glad to hear you have seen another martin this year. Keep hope, you still have a few weeks. I have had some birds here every day since June 8th. I think it may be the same SY male each time. Shows up every day. Sometime between 7am to 10am. Files around a bit, looks in a few holes in the T14 and rep...

Any action at your site this year Ryan? Also any idea what the numbers are like for the older fellow with the active colony closest to you?

I tend to agree with Ed "Some will disagree, but continually adding more cavities to active sites may prevent other potential now vacant martin colonies from attracting their first pair, especially where martin numbers are low or declining." I am trying to start a colony myself so may be a...

Question for everyone out there in Purple Martin land.... What is the latest date you have ever had a pair of SY Martin's show up and then successfully raise a brood? I'm still holding on to hope for this season, but I know my chances are fading. Any response is welcomed. Thanks, have a great weekend!

Here are few pictures to help. First one is of the ASY male from April. The second one shows my new location of the T14 and bird feeder. The distance between the two is about 55 feet.

Good morning. Before I ask for some advice I just wanted to let Ryan know I've got my fingers crossed for the safe arrival of your ASY male. Hopefully he shows up soon with a female companion. My situation so far this year... I have been playing the dawn song since early April. I did get a ASY male ...

I also had martins today! About 20 birds here in Burford, Ontario. I haven't seen any of them land on my housing lately though. Regardless, it's really nice to watch them soaring through the sky. After seeing so many in the last month and a half I'm really excited about next spring. Going to be a lo...

Took a video today. New record of birds for me. Pretty cool to see this many martins at once. Sorry the quality is not so great, doesn't do it justice. https://youtu.be/1blFFPOQF5w

That's a crazy video. Makes me dislike European Starlings even more! I will continue to do my best to get rid of this bird, I had no idea how aggressive they were.

I have set up nesting boxes for Northern Saw Whet owls, Eastern Screech owls and American Kestrels. As far as I am aware, none of these predators are a threat to the martins. Has anyone out there had history with these three species? If so good or bad?

Crazy afternoon here today (Burford, Ontario, Canada). I played "morning chatter" around 5pm and had around 20 martin's flying around for about 30 minutes! Most I've seen yet. Is this late in the season to see this many birds? I'm not complaining, just surprised thats all. Any thoughts?

I will keep playing morning chatter for a few more weeks. I am going to trim back as many limbs as possible this fall to open up the yard a bit more. As for next spring I will play dawn song as soon as I see scout reports near me. Now that I know birds have seen my set up I have more optimism for ne...