Purple Martin Forum

I had a Female show up this morning. I have been having problems with sparrows and had all my holes plugged. I unplugged some this evening and she came back and finally found a gourd that wasn't plugged and went in for the night. I'm expecting more the next few days because the weather should be nic...

Hey Brad!
I'm still here! lol Great to here your Martins are arriving, I know mine are not to far behind yours. Yes there have been alot of changes in all of the martin forums but some of us just keep finding ways to connect. Do you have any tree swallows yet?

Hey D, I totally believe it's possible. I believe that strong South wind we had yesterday blew a lot of Martins North even though It got real cold later in the day. I had 7 Martins show up yesterday. They stayed in the gourds most of the day today because it never made it to 30 degrees. If it is you...

Here is an idea I came up with and was actually used in one of the Martin Update issues. I used old Owl guards and crossed them on a square pole. I first used a rope cleat and then recently changed to a C clamp. It's easier to loosen and slide up and down the pole. All of my poles have these on them...

I do agree with Emil! I use no rockers on all my gourds. I believe that they don't prevent owls from spooking the martins at night from their gourds but they definitely help keep the martins stationery if the gourd is not bouncing all around!

Hey Kent! Hope your doing good! Things are really picking up here to. I had a sharp-shinned hawk giving me problems at the start of the year but has moved on for now. No subbies here either that I know of. My 60 gourds are almost full so it should be a great year! Let me know if you plan on coming d...

I agree Emil! I also think the hawks learn how to catch them even if you have no trees. My colony is wide open no trees for miles. They just get really good at surprising them. I had a hawk last year fly to the top of the racks and most martins would fly off but some would hurry into their gourd. Th...

I feel your pain! About 30 min ago I witnessed a successful hawk attack on a female martin. I did the same thing you did but he was already flying away with it before I could scare it off. I have witnessed a great many attacks in my life having martins. You have to realize it's just going to happen ...

Today was nice an warm here in North Alabama. I counted at least 12 new martins this evening. Get ready people up north, they are coming!!

My tree swallow showed up today. I have bluebirds and martins here. It's starting to feel like spring again!!

Thanks James! I hope the weather is good for them but I'm sure we will have some cold weather still to come. Hope you have a great season James!

Came home from work today and I heard that wonderful chirp I instantly looked up and saw him sky diving to my racks. Then a female joined him. I watched tonight to see if they would stay. They both went in a gourd to stay the night. My season is now underway! It's an awesome feeling seeing them agai...

That was amazing Larry! I really enjoyed the video! Thanks for sharing it.

Here are some panorama pics of the colony!

Dave , I have used netting for years and never had one get tangled in it. I have actually seen them land on the netting then go to the ground to get nesting material. Never seemed to be a problem.

I had some old owl guards that I thought would work good to hang netting on for snake control. I think it will work just fine! You need 4 owl guards, a few hose clamps, rope cleat, for it to rest on and tie straps that's about it. The back side of an owl guard is squared off. It fits perfectly on a ...

After I poured my coffee this morning I did my usual check on my gourd rack and saw this beautiful male on my rack. I instantly went inside to tell my wife and came back out and there were two males. My holes were plugged so I went out to unplug them. I wasn't able to see if they came back this even...

Thanks Ed, They do seem to really like the top row. I'm sure they will eventually fill the rest of the rack up.

Funny thing happened this afternoon. I was watching the martins and they sounded the alarm call and went flying high as if a hawk was coming in. I jumped up and noticed it was my neighbors remote controlled airplane. This thing is really big and looks almost like a hawk. The martins never really see...

I can't believe how many came in today. I went from 3 to 9 in one day. Today was a good day for migration.