Purple Martin Forum

Finally had a SY male show up today.....Not sure how long he was here....I was gone from around 9 am this morning till about 12 noon.....He was here when i got home.....Pair of nesting TS dive bombed him but he sure didn't seem too bothered by them....He sat on the perch rods of the T 14 and then on...

I belong to the Mn PM association and have been in contact with Kelly over the years....He has been a valued source of PM information... Unless I see otherwise or another landlord has some other idea's I still believe hawks are my biggest problem....Again Thk s to all .... Dave S

I live in northern Mn and have been a on and off PM landlord for the past 7 years.....Ive had 1 nesting pair for 3 out of the 7 years...All 3 years all young fledged. The last year I had a nesting pair was in 2017.. Just after the 5 eggs hatched a Coopers hawk took out the ASY male....Doing some res...

Ed,, thanks so much for the reply.... Im located between the cities of Grand Rapids and Hibbing,,, west end of the Iron Range.. I have smeared mud on the entrances and some inside,,, pine needles...... I been a landlord on an off for the past 7 years or so....Ive had 1 nesting pair 3 years,,,fledged...

I had a SY male and a female show up together late this morning....They circled and landed on one of my T 14's....they sat on the house for 10 minutes or so...the female sticking her head into an entrance,, but she didn't go in....I know it's late but maybe i have a slim chance of them settling in.....

First off thanks for the feed back from other PM people..Very much appreciated...Yesterday the 19th I had what I think was a SY male show up and did the fly around for 10 minutes or so....Never landed on my houses but sure was interested in them.., flying up to an entrance a half dozen times and the...

Sad to say but this has been the worst PM season for me...Ive seen 1 sub male on the 25th of May and that s all.. Ive had sucessful nesting 3 out the last 7 years....but only 1 pair each year.. Im still playing the dawn song every day,,,doing the mud thing on my houses,, ( 2 T 14 s with Troyer gourd...

Hello from the Bovey Mn area...Im located half way between GR and Hibbing.....I have had a up and down ride for 7 years with martins...3 of the 7 years i had 1 pair successfully raise and fledge average of 5 each nest....2017 I had no nesters but only visitors....Actually last year was the least mar...

Sadly i have to report that this is the worse martin season I've seen...just a quick back ground....Ive been a landlord off an on since 2010....2010 1 pair,, 2011 1 pair,,2012 1 pair....they all fledged their young, 5 each year...2013 none 2014 none,,,2015 none,,,,, 2016 1 pair and 5 young fledged.....

After reading my last post i saw that i didn't mention TS and BB house placement for it to work...And like i said it did work for me,, and I have TS like bee's around here...When you put up the 2 houses ,, place them 21 ft apart and kinda facing each other so the TS and BB can see who their neighbor...

Okie, thanks much for the reply and input.. I do have good hopes for returning martins this spring....so for the last 7 years I've had nesters and fledge their young 4 years.. I have a TS problem like every other beginning landlord but by placing two TS or BB nest boxes around 60 ft or so from my ma...

I haven't posted since last year so a quick update on my PM status... Ive been trying for 7 years now. The first 3 years i had 1 pair each year that fledged 5 young..The next 3 years i only had visitors, but had martins come an go daily. Last year i had 1 pair nest and fledged 5 again..but it was a ...

Looks like I'm back in the landlord status..The lone ASY male that showed up here on May 17th hung tough.. I had a couple females show up but only hung around for a few hours or so. Wednesday he brought back a SY female and finally nest building has begun..They spent most of yesterday bringing in ma...

Question for Louise or other landlords .. Ive had a lone ASY male here since May 17th...Ive also had 3 females here going into nest boxes with the ASY male but none of them have stayed...Possibly the same females,, i don't know...The lone ASY male has been bringing in green popple leaves to the T 14...

Glad to hear that there are SY still arriving..Northern Mn here and still hoping that my lone ASY male finds a female that wants to set up camp.. He has been here since the middle of May.. I had a lone female come in with him on May 20th..she spent most of the afternoon and evening coming and going ...

So here's what's going on in northern Mn....the ASY male is still here, about 10 days now...I was gone all morning yesterday so don't know if there was any action. But around 2 30 in the afternoon the ASY male showed up again with the SY female..in and out of different entrances of the T 14's...she ...

Mark, thanks for the info...a short history of my martin set up here in northern Mn.. the past 3 years all i had were visitors, no nesters...But the previous 3 years i had one pair each year nest and fledge their young..The first 2 years they nested in the same T 14 and the 3rd year they nested in a...

Thanks for the info 1 BirdmanEye.. Yes i already have dried pine straw in the gourds and the T 14's.. I had no sooner posted in the Forum this morning when the ASY male hung onto a lone Super Gourd with a crescent opening...He didn't go in but he peeked in 2 or 3 times.....I have also smeared some m...

I had a ASY male show up on May 17th.. He has been checking out my 2 T 14 s, going in the nest boxes.. Ive got Troyer H gourds hanging underneath but he has shown no interest in them... He's here almost all morning but is gone the rest of the day until evening...I think he's staying the night , but ...

Thanks Lozinger and the Taxidermy lady for your input...I also use the song bird magnet to play the dawnsong..too bad they didn't make it with the daytime chatter included. I do plan on turning it off when a martin shows up. Hopefully if Louise Chambers see s this post she will give her valuable opi...