Purple Martin Forum

Before leaving on a trip I checked the units. Two nests in progress in the main house and three nests in the top rung of gourds!

Martin Man, I’m a little confused. How can I modify my existing gourds to the specifications you list? This is the only time I’ve had a dead adult in this condition and as mentioned before I haven’t seen any sparrows hanging around, only one persistent starling. I don’t have the tools to do extensiv...

Hmm. Could be. Haven’t seen any sorties hanging around.

Found this poor guy in one of my gourds. Note the wounds to the head. Did he go there to die? I’m going to wash it out before hanging it up

Finally! Some more activity! Hopefully when I check them later this week, I’ll see some signs of nest building.

Lol. I see them in my neighborhood but they seem hesitant to actually nest in my units, especially the gourds. I’ve been checking them over weekly and destroying nests but no sign of Martin activity. Why can’t I get some bluebirds or wrens?

Have you confirmed you have Starling issues? I live in central KY and have only had 1 starling in my houses in 3 years and my FIL took care of him with birdshot. All of my holes are the traditional round and the martins love the nice big entrances. I also don't have hawks or owls that attack my bir...

Here is a photo of the house that I have as my main unit, and here is a picture of one of the SREH plates I bought. I did not realize there was such a depth between the bottom of the entrance hole and the porch. Will this work, or do I need to get something else? 2776195D-FFA0-45BC-9933-DD9DB1D3A888...

CTMartins wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 20, 2023 12:40 pm

TWilliam wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:27 am

Ok. I ordered some cover plates. Hopefully they’ll get here before it’s too late. Any idea why a Martin may reject a gourd? Two years in and they still don’t seem to like mine.

Are they showing at your site or no?

Sometimes…and usually on the power lines overhead.

Ok. I ordered some cover plates. Hopefully they’ll get here before it’s too late. Any idea why a Martin may reject a gourd? Two years in and they still don’t seem to like mine.

I would modify the metal house down to 6 room to in large the cavities. You can buy the crescent entrances to replace the round hole. A Starling will wear you out all summer trying to remove their nest from the round hole compartments. I hope this helps. Good luck. JHCox Heiskell TN. They just scre...

My condos

TWilliam, Welcome to martin central. Yes we talk to the martins and iv been known to talk to starlings and sparrows....sounds like this... Hold still, yep, hold on.....perfect, gotcha!!! Yes!!!! Yeah you may need to look hard at your entrances, some folks can live with round 2 inch holes, others ca...

https://www.purplemartin.org/uploads/media/top12-258.pdf top 12 reasons we lose our colonies of Martins. Lower the pole and check the cavities to see what kind of nest (if any are in there). If it's Starling nest pull and destroy it, then eliminate the Starling(s). Good luck. Stay vigilant and moni...

Greetings! I did not see a thread, where new members could introduce themselves, so I hope the administrators will pardon me if I take some liberty. I live in a small town in Northeast Arkansas, and this is my third year as a landlord. I just put up a second telescoping pole with some hanging gourds...