Purple Martin Forum

(2) eggs already :-).

Bill

I saw the TRES so far every year 2-3 weeks before the Martins....right now I am doing the "deny TRES access to PM housing" dance.

Bill

willbird I'm so glad for u but please get some kind of guards on poles dick Well time will tell on that one, all has been well so far. Any predator would have the TRES housing on shepherds crooks to pick on first, and even they have never been bothered. I know that may sound controversial, but I st...

There were TWO just now but I could not get a real good look at the second one :-).

This is the neighbors two doors down housing, hope they like MINE better :-).



Bill

Just spotted an adult Male today, more or less asking me to open up some condo's for him :-). The Tree Swallows were back 2-3 weeks ago and the Martins are on schedule...not sure if they follow the TRES back or not :-).

Bill

Will I re-vamped my snake netting. Tired of having it come loose and wasting time re-doing it with every nest check. Get you some "bird netting" in the Garden Center at Lowes or similar store. Get the standard size pkg. It is I think 1/2" x 1/2"squares, black nylon or something....

Yea! You are on your way. Did you get any predator guard up? We had our first snake in netting on our pole this morning. Good luck! I have to admit that I have not......need to dig up exactly what to buy and where...there was a decent sticky on it...but I was not "getting" exactly the mat...

http://i.imgur.com/wAOS8zh.jpg Somehow I lost all my info I had entered in the online PMW file. Should have printed it :-(. But as I recall it said 6-26 as projected first hatch. The YELLOW leaves are kind of interesting, they can only be from one bush in our yard, which is a "privet" and...

I have never tried it with birds really, but a buddy swears animals "rear end" gets warm when you draw a bead on them, so you must aim and shoot fast:-)....but another friend swears by wearing sunglasses, he claims deer and other animals get that warm rear end sensation from catching onto ...

I have noticed watching the PM's that I can get a lot closer on the Craftsman riding mower than I can on foot before they "spook". And I have been doing nest checks every 1-2 days so they "know" me by now I would think.

Bill

I read an article or posting that said only about 1 in 5 SY return to where they were hatched, the majority return within a 25-50 mile radius ?? http://chuckspurplemartinpage.com/habits.htm So to me a huge colony might only self sustain with SY, the others will be "gifts" to the 25-50 mile...

Subadults can and do colonize new sites, so do adult birds. The belief is that SY females would prefer an ASY mate, since he has survived avian malaria and a blood parasite that infects martins - his adult plumage tells them that. And many SY females pair with a subadult male, but the majority of t...

I'm a bit north of you (43543) but my first one in the new housing was 6-8 and another pair just started on 6-16. I'm pretty sure the 6-8 are both ASY, the 6-16 may be SY, and there is still some other messing around going on :-). If your not yet using the Online PMW excel spreadsheet, it is kind of...

Gourd number 5 has 2 eggs today :-).

So we have there are 2 pairs and 6 eggs(and counting) total :-).

Some green leaves showing up in another gourd with a fairly well developed nest :-).

I'm thinking of a 2" square pole (maybe steel), so it will not be a "fix" as such for the tri-tel.

Bill

MY neck hurts from turning my head sideways to look at the pictures ;-).

I have the tri tel at present. One nice feature if it rains is the hydraulic lowering feature that sprays you right in the crotch with cold water :-) shooting out of the clip hole :-). Wondering if there is a way to make a winch system to run an assembly up and down the pole and not telescope it. Lo...

Looks like the first clutch is 4 eggs :-).

Online PMW says
6-23-13 earliest hatch and 7-19-13 earliest fledge.

Bill

yea I do not think I went over the line in any way, but the post was not "new" by any means...it was from Sunday I think ??


Bill