Purple Martin Forum

Laura,
Get your flipping spoon out, and get large meal worms airborn!!
Good luck, supplemental feeding can save your colony!

Mike Wren

To Birdman in Buckhead! Hey there Birdman, this is Birdman from Athens, Ohio!! ( Home of #9) I understand the feelings about these damn Hawks. I have always loved the hawk predators, but as my Martin colonies have grown, and the hawks have increased their presence, I am liking them less and less. We...

Doug,

Great story about your 28 years of patience as you waited for Martins to show up !! Good luck again this year! Supplemental feeding like we really must help them with up here in the "north" is critical to my success also! Have fun with them!

Mike Wren
Athens, Ohio

A great investment to help you insure that the birds you are trying to save will make it!! I have saved a few birds who were suffering from hypothermal and/or starvation by keeping them in a large box that a new refridgerater came in. I had some light netting over the top of the box to keep the bird...

Thomabear, CC,brent, phil01 and other southern supplemental feeders!!, Great to see all the interest and the need for supplemental feeding that has helped others to learn how to be successful over the past couple of years. Luckily, us northern yankees up in Ohio do not have to worry about the feedin...

Dave, I know how hard and how long you had to work to have the success you have seen at multiple Martin Colony sites! That is why I have confidence that this is the year you will get your birds trained to understand what you are doing down there on the ground with the plastic serving spoon in your h...

Mal,

Have you tried Supplemental feeding if your birds have flown into cold wet weather and insects are forced to the ground?

Thomas,
We are watching closely and we hope that Joe is done with the serious injuries . Hopefully they will do a better job of protecting him in the pocket! He has really earned his contract money because he has brought life to the Bengal's , sold out tickets, lots of new fans!

Geaux Joe !

Mike

For the 3rd "March spring" in a row, many Ohio colonies are facing arrivals into severely cold temperatures that has made finding flying insects difficult for our birds. Supplemental feeding of Mighty Mealey meal worms saved almost all of my early arrivals last year. I have four ASY birds ...

Going to look for this air rifle. How much does this gun cost?
Mike Wren

When we see as many scout reports from Kentucky and near Tenn. it is time to worry a bit north of these states this early in March. Northern midwest Martins that arrive in March are risking their lives if they are returning to their colonies in Mid-to late March. Our early spring weather has been ve...

killerv,

"yet" is the magic word! Once sharp shinns or Coopers locate a martin colony, they are going to attack at some point. They will have
misses, but they will eventually attack and kill in time.

Mike

We hope so David. He has had some bad luck with the injuries. He is great quarterback and great young man. Athens Ohio Bulldogs are very proud of him. !

Mike "Bird" Wren

Dave, You and your Iowa group have shared lots of very important info that is very important to "northern colony landlords", especially when you have shared the importance of supplemental feeding. Flipping meal worms and crickets to martin arrivals is the most fun you can have with these a...

I have experimented with not cleaning some of my nest boxes until end of winter or early spring. I was concerned about some insect life that might be harmful to returning martins. I found some small mite like insects in a couple of nest boxes, and also found some species of flies that survived the w...

I have got to hope that we do not get our Ohio birds back this early. We have had terrible weather to deal with the past seasons that caused Martin Landlords to lose birds to hypothermia and starvation. March is a very dangerous month for our returning birds! Hopefully they will "slow down thei...

Great to be able to see how far ahead you La.Martin Land Lords are compared to us Ohio Bengal fans! We are hoping for Joe's wrist to heal completely, and we are also hoping that our birds take their time getting to the Ohio River and crossing to make it to Athens ! We always get hit with some very c...

Good ideas to help protect our martins from hawks and owls. I have tried all except for the fencing in my 3 Troyer T-14's and my 3 Troyer Gourd Racks for a total of 96 nest box opportunities for our birds. I might try to "fence in" at least one or two of my Towers this season. I have Sharp...

Sharon, Thanks for the encouragement! I had 4 arrivals yesterday evening , and there were 3 more birds flying with the original 4 this morning! I think that the earliest birds that arrived are from my colony because the majority of them caught the first Mighty Meal worms that I flipped in their dire...

Martintown, we need all the luck we can get. Even after our birds begin to filter into southeastern ohio by late March or early April, we still usually get some cold wet weather that can cause our birds problems. Hopefully we will warm up in the next week and the 31 Ohio Scout Arrivals will grow pre...