Purple Martin Forum

Mystery solved. Sort of. They are a form of woodworm, or larvae of wood boring beetles. I thought powder post beetles, but no powder remnants. Will repair holes by filling, or coats of enamel.

Sorry if my post was a bit vague. Have now found about 8 gourds out of 25 with this problem. Not all holes are pin size. Some are twice that. Hold the gourd up tp the light and it looks like the stars at night. So I was bringing in firewood last night and grabbed an armful of very dry kindling. Smal...

These gourds have been occupied the last 5 seasons. I have about 50% natural hand-crafted gourds and won't switch to all plastic. Grow them and finish them, and in 12 years have never had this problem. Didn't bother the birds or chicks. I will recoat with a good enamel. Didn't need the additional ve...

When working on my natural gourds for this season I noticed that several had a multitude of teeny pin-size holes throughout the body of the gourd. What new hell is this?

Thanks for the rundowns, Brent and Tom. I am waiting til late today for a dry-out, and the excitement ebbs. This morn I checked the site and found a mom and pop feeding 2 jumpers that were clinging to some tall grasses near the site. After checking the probable home gourd and finding 2 out of 6 were...

My nest check this week was already put back a day, and it has rained all day today. Supposed to rain all night. With most of my 23 nests at 28 days, or fledged already, I would like to hear what other landlords might do. Sa of right now, I will check the nests tomorrow except for 26 days or over. I...

Kingbirds nest yearly in a mulberry tree 60 feet from my colony. No real problems til the K-bird young are nearing fledge time. Then the attacks begin. Hunting martins near their tree get chased, bullied and harassed. I watched last year as the male took one of my martins to the ground in the adjace...

Wow. At Sunday's nest check on 7/5 here in Grass Lake, Michigan, I still have 90 babies rapidly approaching first flight. Very busy parents in 92 degree heat all week.