Purple Martin Forum

I cannot shoot within city limits, so I need to haul them away. I have gourds with SRE but the first house I put up does not. The starlings are unusually aggressive this season and I’ve found dead martins inside the gourds too.

What about a PMCA elevator trap?

Three birds have been killed. Three. Earlier this week I found a dead female stuffed at the entrance of her cavity, leaving three eggs behind. I put them into another nest and this morning they were partially covered with leaves. But later today I found no trace of them and blood at the entrance of ...

Here are two examples.

Some of my gourds are pretty old and the exterior porches have broken off. Can the birds still use them?

Too big to be a Martin, but what is it ?

I am glad you posted this thread! Just a few minutes ago, I found one of my dogs playing with a dead chick, and I thought it was a robin because I have found Robin egg shell fragments under that tree. When I went to check the Martin houses my other dog sniffed something and started to roll in it too...

This sounds like the injured Martin I found a free weeks ago. Methinks a hawk would do more damage than what you’ve described. I blame sparrows or starlings or maybe even other martins, though I’ve never seen it happen. They are very competitive for the holes in my one box unit. Sounds like you’re d...

The gourds are starling resistant, but nobody has built a nest in this one.

we have a few starlings, but they have mostly disappeared since more Martin showed up. At first, I thought it was a sparrow, but when I went to check her again 10 minutes after writing, the initial post, I found two other purple martins at the gorge. Do you think they attacked her? I decided not to ...

Found a wounded bird in a gourd today. Looks like another bird got after her. Still seems alert and not too badly injured but I lost two adults last season and wonder if there’s something i I can do to help?

Some photos of local wildlife making last minute preps before the big eclipse tomorrow. I am shocked that a pair of doves are nesting on our property since we have dogs in the yard. Never seen this before. Photos taken with a smart phone mount paired with binos. IMG_5050.jpeg IMG_5051.jpeg IMG_5047....

Earlier this week I heard a distinct chirping. Now I have confirmation. They’re back! Likely just scouts, but I rolled out the welcome mat anyway and raised the gourds. How I’ve missed those little guys! They’re sure to get their fill with the expected cicada swarm we’re getting later this spring.

Wow, I’m sitting on probably 20 babies at most. Can’t imagine having space enough for housing for hundreds.

Well, we had a few late bloomers! Everybody else looks like they’re just about ready to leave…

Here’s a photo of one of the first nests to hatch. One egg just didn’t work for some reason…

Oh yeah. I be been trying to post some pics but they don’t want to work.

Sure has been a weird season. Just when I thought the birds may not show at all, then voila! Except for a few eggs that won’t hatch and a small mite problem the colony is thriving.

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 p...