Purple Martin Forum

Had this happen last year... the bird seemed to be pecked to death...I was home and lowered the gourds and let the bird out that had done the pecking but the injured one died. I lose VERY few birds, and this was sad. Love the large gourds and have some aggressive Martins that keep the starlings and ...

Woke up to a beautiful visitor this morning.... And another season begins...

We changed to all gourds over the winter. We bought Big Bo 11 plus gourds with clinger entrances. We first saw a pair of martins about a week ago and had sporadic visits. We were worried that they weren't going to accept the new system...but today OUR pair stayed all morning, going in and out of the...

Congratulations, Kathy! We got our first scout today too! A beautiful male...and we are pretty sure he is ours from the last two years... Flew right over our heads and "bleaked" us..... What a happy sight!

We like to think about those same kind of things...Last year my husband played some Brazilian music on the patio and we think the martins appreciated it.... what a fun hobby...

Thanks for the great data. We have had a house in which we enlarged the compartments resulting in 6 nesting compartments. We had two gourds hanging below. We had much interest in the gourds and lots of lookers but not one resident in the house. Our loyal male always dominated both gourds (apparently...

Thank you for posting. We LOVE the sculpture and feel we must have one!
Always appreciate your posts!

We really enjoyed the photos. Thanks to all who posted! Hope we have some to add in a few months.

In Texas we say, "That was a horse of a different color." Our first martin returned today! Happy Saturday!

We do love our barnies, Blue Boy and Goldie, who have come for their 3rd summer with us. We ordered the "nest cups" and they LOVE them.... we clean them out every fall and they build a beautiful nest in them each year. I ordered them to direct the birds away from above my mailbox for obvio...

Joe.... you must have the same kind of sparrows are I do!! Thanks for the laugh!

Ok...I know it sounds weird.... :lol: but he told us to put a pinwheel (you know...the kids' dollar toy that turns in the wind?) on the martin house. It didn't bother the martins, but the starlings would not land on the house....this was just for a few days until our SREH came in the mail and we kil...

Just a quick encouragement for those of you wanting to attract martins. We had one pair last year (two fledged) and have been fighting starlings and sparrows like crazy. Our pair came back March 29th. Two days ago ( yes... around May 1st)... three more Martins started spending the night! Yippee. Got...

:lol: Wow.... lots of people work for a few years to get martins! We tried in 07, got a pair in '08 and they are back! You will not believe how addicting and entertaining it is! Kathy saved me a few times last year as did others on the Forum. I know you will have lots of help and we will all eagerly...

Be careful; it is addicting! Have a wonderful time!

Our martins are back with friends! They spent the night last night and the starlings are greatly affected by even the noise of the pellet gun. (Apparently hitting a bird is an acquired skill; we have killed no starlings.) They are really afraid of us though. Starlings (hereafter known as devil birds...

We are going to win the battle with Starlings today! We just had two martins (I think ours) sitting on the house and the Starlings chased them off.....SO THERE IS HOPE. Kathy, you helped me tons last year! Nice to hear from you again. You gun advice was in time. Hubby is gone to get a good one. For ...

What a disappointment! Last year was our first year with matins. We were overjoyed when all 3 (nesting pair and single male) returned 5 days ago. We enjoyed the music and company. We have always had to fight sparrows but were having little trouble with them. Then we were back at work, and apparently...

Such polite guests!!! They did come back to say, "Thank you and see ya next year!" I took the pole down after 24 hours of seeing no activity; it was empty as I suspected. As I was putting it back up, the regular 3 martins flew overhead WITH MY TWO SMALLER, WHITER FLEDGLINGS IN TOW!!! What ...

Oh my! Sounds like exactly my experience. They were here very early yesterday, but I had meetings beginning at 9. Kept my little cairn terrier inside all day in case a fledgling ended up on the ground. When I got home at 3:30---no purple martins---- didn't want to bring the house down ---but nothing...