Purple Martin Forum

Its always tough when you get your first pair the year before and wonder what this spring will bring.... For what its worth after 5 years of trying with zero results I finally had one pair fledge 4 young, same as you, only this was 10 years ago. The next year I had two pair, the year after that stil...

Kathy I made two plates 15/16 by 2-1/4 inches to have if 7/8's is to small. Do you think maybe I should have went one inch. I saw where a man made an oblong hole and he made the center 15/16" made it 2" long and tapered it down to 5/8" on each end. I guess we will see what happens. H...

I've probably put up around 30 purple martin poles/houses over the last few years, using both concrete as well as well tamped pea gravel. BOTH work just fine! I am surprised the pea gravel does such a good job, but it does. In our northern climate with frost heaving, etc. both concrete and gravel af...

I thought I'd put in my 2 cents to clear up what I personally feel is a misconception about metal martin houses being potentially too hot. Heat is not a problem with a metal martin house normally. However COLD is a VERY MAJOR problem with metal martin housing. Imagine standing barefoot on a metal sh...

The very last of the martins at my colony left Aug 20. The very latest I have ever seen them at my main site a half hour west of Edmonton was Aug 21. As a rule they start to leave the last week in July, with about half gone by Aug 7. I had 70 pairs this year, down from 92 pairs last year. Our condit...

Well I did a complete nest check, applying a bit of Sevin, and took count this last weekend at my main colony 30 minutes west of Edmonton, Alberta. I have 128 large compartments of wooden houses, natural gourds, plastic gourds with Great Stuff insulation inside, and cedar wooden individual chalets h...

Matt, To answer your question there are a few colonies on the south shore of Lesser Slave Lake, the large lake well to the north of your points and the city of Edmonton. The map you show calls the lake "Slave Lake". There is also a colony perhaps 10 or 15 miles northwest of Lesser Slave La...

Hi Barry, My main colony is west of Edmonton and I have 3 or so dozen pairs in natural gourds (and a few dozen more in wooden large compartment houses and insulated plastic gourds). I originally got the natural gourds from Gourd Gracious who mailed them to me, but they are out of business as of this...

Hi Ryan, If you mean "Do natural gourds work well as martin housing in the North" the answer is a resounding "YES". Thick shelled natural gourds with SREH tunnels, with the gourds painted either white or light brown, are readily used by martins in my area. If you mean "Can I...

Doug, as you probably know they are having great success in re-establishing purple martins in the "thumb" of Michigan with large compartment wooden housing and SREH. Wood is a lot warmer in the cold spells of spring, and the SREH helps tremendously with stopping starlings. Martins easily s...

I did my complete nest checks today at my main colony site 30 minutes west of Edmonton. I'm gunning for "the world's northernmost super colony" (100 pairs) but I've been thwarted. I have 92 pairs of martins this year, up from 80 pairs last year. So my quest will have to wait until next yea...

I see from Google Map you are roughly half way between Portland, Oregon and Seattle/Tacoma Washington. The birds sound all the world to me as if they are an "eastern colony", and your site appears as if it could be many places east of the Rockies. Congratulations on your very significant a...

Hi Tony, To control the cunning sparrows we need to take advantage of their tendencies. As folks have found out, if you rip out a sparrow nest they will immediately start to rebuild it and use the same nesting material you pulled out if you leave it on the ground in the vicinity of the purple martin...

Hi Birdguy, I've built a number of Styrofoam purple martin houses and the martins really like them! I see you have a coating of perhaps fiberglass mesh on the outside and I hope you did the same on the floor of the inside, or the martins will scratch through in about 3 years or so. Also the round ho...

Since my colony is located at 53 degrees latitude north (and 6 miles south of 31'48" to get really specific), I have come to learn a lot about martin housing and nesting preferences in the north country. Its been a long haul, but here are the numbers of pairs by year at my main colony site: 199...

The North Star we use up here is 100% wood. Here's a photo from one of my satellite sites this year. Rob, I'm glad you are having success with the insulated (with Great Stuff) plastic gourds. If insulated, plastic gourds are an excellent house for martins in the north. It took a couple of years or s...

Its sad reading the reports some folks have about heat, drought, and various stresses on the purple martins. I thought I'd report a bit of good news, the absolutely booming purple martin population here in Alberta at the extreme northwest part of the martin range. Specifically at my main colony, las...

Hi Rob, Beautiful T14! Congrats on the martin population at your colony! I guess what I'm saying re the chalets is this...If you had your existing setup, which is excellent, plus a SECOND pole beside it with cedar chalets on a rack, the cedar chalets would fill up 2 to 1 first vrs. even the T14. The...

After several years of experimenting in this great hobby, I've come to believe I know what northern martins prefer most in terms of housing preferences. While large compartment apartment style housing with SREH works great, as do thick shelled gourds and experimental Styrofoam apartment houses, here...

I was amazed at the numbers of martins at my colony 30 minutes west of Edmonton when I visited today. I'd estimate about 75 pairs, up from 58 pairs last year, and the SYs don't arrive up here until about June 3-10 most years. Things are late this year due to our long and very snowy winter, but the b...