Purple Martin Forum

Dawnsong is what originally attracted martins to my site but have not bothered with it since they became established. When I did use it I left it on all day long, only turning it off at night. I did not quit using it till I had martins staying for a week or so. Never seemed to bother them that dawns...

Very good point from Ray. Your best time for attracting martins to a new site in your area will be after May 15 and well into June. I would definitely make use of the songbird magnet starting about the 3rd week of May. I don't have what would be considered an ideal spot to attract martins, and the s...

If the 2 pair you had last year were SY martins, then they probably aren't all back yet. As I mentioned, the first time I had returning ASY martins they started showing up May 10, and you are roughly in same zone as I am, just a little further north. If they successfully fledged young at your site l...

One thing to remember, when the first ASY martins (I don't call them scouts as purple martins do not send out "scouts") arrive at any given colony depends a lot on the age of the birds. The older the bird the earlier they will typically show up at the nesting site. In 2022 I had ASY martin...

Sounds like you are on your way to a successful Martin colony! Just a note, those ASYs will start showing up earlier the older your colony gets. My dad had an active colony for 15 years, he would sometimes have a few show up in late March. Here in northeast OH it gets hard to keep from losing some w...

I don't believe playing dawn song would bother your current ASY birds, but they should do a fine job of attracting SYs by themselves. For what it's worth, here is my experience. 2021 used dawn song and attracted 2 pair SY and a couple lone males. 2022 two pair ASY showed up May 10, did not use dawn ...

When I first started out I thought they probably needed me. Turns out I need them just as much if not more. My kids say I worry more about my martins than I did about them when they were still at home. Nothing more relaxing to me on a summer evening than sitting in the backyard watching the activity...

That's a great picture! I spend a lot of time around my T-14 house and will even talk to the martins, and a lot of them will stay on the house while I mow underneath it. Last week I lowered the house in the afternoon as I like to check all compartments every 3 days. Usually any martins inside will f...

My vote would be continue using the dawn song until you have martins staying. It is what got me started and I left it on all day until martins stayed. It is not unusual to have visitors from other sites check out your site. If you see them going in and out of nesting compartments they should be ther...

CTMartins, please don't get discouraged. There are a lot of SY martins that have not returned yet. I had my first SY martin show up on May 11th, and I am about 2 weeks ahead of your area on the migration range. Your "sweet spot" for attracting SY martins should be around end of May till mi...

I have a T14 made with composite material (like the Trex decking material), no venting and so far have not had any jumpers, but this is only my 3rd year so not a lot of experience. I do use sevin dust to help control nest mites as I read somewhere that nest mites can cause jumpers.

One of the easiest visual identifiers for me is the females will have a light gray/whiteish area on their forehead right above their eyes. The SY males normally have a darker/purple forehead. With a good pair of binoculars there is a noticeable difference as long as they are holding still.

Awesome advertisement there CTmartins! Sounds like you have exactly what a young purple martin couple will be looking for to start their new family. I'm in northeast OH and currently have 5 pair ASY that are just starting to put nesting material in. No sign of any SY birds yet but usually don't see ...

John, you make a good point in that some ASYs for various reasons may look for new housing and or start new colonies, and I should have pointed that out. Note I did say it is "almost exclusively" SY birds that start new colonies. If one is able to closely monitor new housing then by all me...

If it is a new site, you are trying to attract SY (second year) martins, as the ASY (after second year) martins will go to the same site they successfully nested at the prior years. New sites are almost exclusively started by SY martins looking for a nesting site. If you look at the purple martin mi...

I too have shot them with a 12 gauge early in the season after first making sure there are not martins close by. This can be difficult for me after all the martins are here as there are usually a few martins to close to the HOSP to utilize the 12 gauge. Last year I invested in a Savage .17 HMR to de...

Yes, you will need to cut the house. I would not trust duct tape to hold it on for the simple reason that you have a metal house. Filing/smoothing any jagged burs off the cut edge prior to mounting SREH and using rivets to hold the thin metal tightly against the SREH plate are almost a must in your ...

That will work. All you need to do is trace the inside of the SREH exactly where you are holding it in the picture, then cut your existing wall just outside of the mark, mount the SREH back over the hole and you are done. The extra existing hole doesn't matter as long as it is covered by the SREH pl...

First off I will apologize for long post but I wanted to post about how far I think my small colony has come in the last year.In 2021 I had 6 pair 27 eggs,17 hatched and 17 fledged.This year 2022 I had 25 pair,123 eggs,94 hatched and 92 fledged I had 2 jumpers that didn’t make it.I still have a few...

Last year I actually had bats using the gap between my T14 martin house and the pole as a "bat house". Whenever I lowered the house to do nest checks they were clinging to the side of the wooden pole. Did not seem to bother the martins at all. I did replace the pole with an aluminum pole a...