Purple Martin Forum

Right on schedule when doing my nest checks this a.m. I was greeted by 4 chicks with one egg to go in one gourd and two chicks of 4 eggs in another. I am hoping I got to that one egg in time in the nest with the 4 hatchlings as one end was totally covered by 1/2 of one of the other chick's egg shell...

Thanks to all of you in the south for your heroic measures to save as many martins as possible. Some of those birds are Michigan birds and we ALL appreciate your care and concern. I promise to be just as diligent when the birds get up here.

I had starlings get into the standard crescent opening two years in a row. We all have to check continually no matter what we have because they are all only starling resistant, not starling proof. Both years I let the starling pair nest and lay eggs. It was early in the Martin season. Then I lined t...

The last two years I have had starlings get into crescent openings (on in my Musselman house converted to 6 2-room compartments and into one gourd). The martins were certainly NOT going into those houses now, so I waited for them to lay eggs and then I took some of that gooey, sticky rat trap paper ...

Thanks, James Strickland, for the Valentine wishes. I have noticed that there are many more men hosting martins than women, and I find that very, very touching. It must be a large group of the sensitive men of the USA who really, really care about what's important! Thank you, guys. I can't imagine a...

This is also a problem where I live in southwest Michigan. I am on a lake and need to get up the courage to visit the homes where the houses are up but abandoned and offer to take the houses down for them so they can donate them to a place that can use them. I might get a negative response, like whe...

Thanks in Zeeland for starting a colony. It's very rewarding and we need many more colonies in Michigan where numbers are waaaay down.

Penny in southwest Michigan
40 nest boxes/gourds
26 years with martins on Barton Lake

Two seasons ago I had starlings take over a gourd. It had a round entrance hole. After the starling laid her eggs, I inserted some of that sticky mouse/rat paper, cut into 1-inch squares and ringed her eggs with it. It may sound cruel, but she HAD to go in to her eggs, and when she did, she got all ...

Hi from Michigan. I see you have no owl guards? Is that not a problem in your area. Last year for the first time I installed them and am glad I did. We are getting more owls in the area as our lake habitat in southwest Michigan becomes more inviting to birds in general.

I had the same concern last summer about whether the owl guards would frighten my martins, but I decided to go with the owl guards from the beginning of spring on ALL gourds, but the owl grates around my three, 12-unit metal houses was progressive. I held off on two of the metal houses until I saw t...

I just took advantage of the sale on products. I am buying a new pole, the last I will purchase as I still have one of four units that does not have a pulley system. I lost some near fledgling birds last year because I couldn't properly monitor during the bad heat in July in Michigan, at least 4 you...

I enjoyed the martins more in August this year than any other year. Because we fledged so many (well over 100), and because many fledged later, the young birds didn't leave as early as they seemed to in the past. After the adults left Barton Lake in southwest Michigan (around August 1), about 50 of ...

I solved the starling problem this year. All gourds are starling resistant, and the metal housing apparently has compartments too small to suit them. But sparrows! What pests. I have shot two with my Daisy Red Rider and trapped 5 in my sparrow trap. All are now permanently gone, but I still have at ...

On Barton Lake in southwest Michigan, many of us have our martin poles actually in the water and have been successful landlords for years in this way. Many of us do not have enough swooping space in our yards and do not want the housing on the dock due to the potential mess of bird droppings, noise,...

Does anybody have a guess on how the martins will be affected when they migrate back to Brazil, having to cross through the BP Oil Spill Area? I am already getting concerned for them. I am having a very successful season in southwest Michigan on Barton Lake with eggs in several nest boxes. I don't t...