Purple Martin Forum

Interested to hear how your PMs reacted to being lowered last night. Some nasty weather south of us. Mostly just lightening and thunder and some much needed rain up here. No sign of PMs.

Posted a comment/question as a new thread and thought I would provide a quick link to that for the Wisco PM fans...


viewtopic.php?t=39202

I'm wondering if many Wisconsin members on the forum participate in the "Scout Arrival Study". I've been checking it every few days and not much changes in NE Wisconsin. It's interesting that reports of arrivals in Canada are plentiful. It must be a tradition in the Canadian plains compare...

Thanks Rob. I'll check that video series out.

XPS house is repaired and erected. Morning song playing. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Tim

Great job on the build. You are a craftsman. You are a great son as well. If you can share where you saw the building plan that'd be super. I built an XPS foam, eight unit house and upon installation (by myself) I managed to have it drop about 15' onto a nearby chain link fence. It mostly survived b...

I"m new to the forum game and live in central WI.. I had 3 martins arrive on the 11th. I'm trying to find people in my area interested in martins. Thanks Hey Big G. There's an event in June in Oconto you might be interested in. I've never attended but I am going to try to get there. http://www...

Thanks. My first thoughts about my home site were that I would give it a shot even though the only positive PM requirement is homes/people. After spending many hours on the PM house build I think I'd like to increase my odds a bit. I'm not sure how to capture a Google image but I'll look into it. I ...

I'm a newb. I am just beginning to learn about Purple Martins. Being near the northern limit of their range I realize my success may take years. I just need to be patient. I am getting close to finishing the building of an eight apartment house inspired by Bernie Nikolai's design I found on the main...

That's cool. And that's Joe Kaplan. He was the one I contacted after hearing about his efforts at a Purple Martin booth at the Michigan Bluebird Association meeting in Ann Arbor last April. As Joe says... Back in the 50s and 60s families would go to their summer lake house and "put out the dock...

Thanks again John! I think I'm not too concerned about heat at my latitude. The house is 1/2" XPS sheathed with canvas and white paint. I watched a video about PMs in Escanaba, about an hour east of me on Lake Michigan (Little Bay de Noc) and Joe Kaplan mentions that houses he replaced years ag...

Good to hear you are getting PMs. They'll survive a little snow. We have mostly snow cover but most will be gone in the next few days. I just began building a PM house. I've no experience, and we are close to the northern limits of their range. I'm counting on getting a few in our first year as land...

Modified the porch with a step. I think that will work. I wonder if the PMs will like the natural cedar or if I should paint them white like everything else. PXL_20250409_170513935.jpg I attached a photo of my thoughts for a porch perch. I don't know if they are a good addition or not. Two lengths I...

Thanks John. I will try a "step" of about 7/32" (bottom of entrance to porch floor). I'm not sure what size the ideal porch is. The pictured one is about 6" wide by 2 3/4" deep. It looks like the PMCA aluminum porches are that deep. I also thought that I'd attach a simple ro...

I'm working on entrances for my eight unit PM house. I've read something about the porch/entrance design but I'm not sure how to interpret it. Will the PMs be able to enter with the porch floor at the bottom of the entrance? Should there be a quarter inch step up to the entrance? I just made one of ...

flyin-lowe wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 04, 2025 11:39 am

... I would be interested to see how the martins accept that design, but I assume they would use it all the same.

I'll keep all y'all updated on success. I am near the northern limits of their range and I'm probably locating in a non-prime spot in my yard so...

... Question…. Are you going to put any type of door on it so you can open and perform nest checks? Phil Thanks for the compliments. It's a work in progress so access to nest boxes are still being figured out. In theory it will be installed on an aluminum pole (an old 14' Sunfish sailboat mast) whi...

I don't have much to offer other than I really like the look and concept of it. Have driven around and looked for any colonies nearby? Best of wishes regardless! Thanks for your reply Thomas. I think the design is worth a try. I don't know if PMs will like the 90 degree turn to access the nest area...

I'm building an eight unit PM apartment. I might have it done in a week or two. Never had Martins before. Actually have never seen any around these parts. Anywho, I read about owls reaching into the nest boxes and grabbing hatchlings. Someone suggested having a baffle just inside the entrance to mak...

Thanks Dave. I wasn't too worried about it but thought I'd ask. You never know if there might be a smell, or worse, that the PMs don't like.

I am building an eight unit PM house and I'm using "Liquid Nails Projects" (LN-704) as the adhesive. It's description includes the following... "Low VOC, latex based and no harmful fumes". Does anyone have any negative experience with any adhesive they used? BTW, I'm following Be...