Daily Visitors No Residence/New Pics

bigwill1767 · Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:42 pm

My neighbor to the left 1/4 mile away has about 50 PM, he maintains his colony well. My neighbor to the right 1/4 mile away has about 20 PM and has never done anything but put up gourds many years ago but still gets PM every year. I looked at his gourds today and 1 was missing 1/4 of the side but still had a PM in it. Amazing.
I just put my gourd rack up a few weeks ago and would be thrilled to get a pair this year. I have been playing a misc homemade chatter cd until my Dawnsong comes in next week. I have 5 daily visitors but they are more interested in the sound coming from my speakers on the porch than they are in the gourds. They will come in real slow, just gliding in low for a look at me sitting on the porch with a camera trying to get a good picture then off they go across the field back to my neighbors.
Twice today I saw a hawk diving repeatedly over at my neighbors. I was not home at lunchtime so I bribed 1 of my sons to watch my gourds somewhat. He called and said I had 1 PM sitting on top of the rack and 1 sitting on a gourd but would not go in.
When I got home I dropped the rack to check the gourds and the pine straw was just as I had left it. I was afraid the Bluebirds had moved back in but I think they are happy with their own house I built.
Anyway, numerous times late this evening my visitors would come in real slow right over the gourd rack toward me on the porch and still seem to be just looking at me on the porch. Almost dark and I turned my CD off, calling it quits for the day, gathering my things(pellet rifle for any pests, diet coke etc) and I had 3 come right in to the gourd rack and I thought for sure they were going to be overnight guest since it was so close to being dark. Wrong, they were only looking and flew real slow and low right over the gourds and me on the porch and kept going. I have egg shells in a feeder close to the gourd. Should I put some meal worms in there? I read somewhere that PM eat them. Anyway, it was exciting just watching them and hope for a better tomorrow.

birdy girl · Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:06 pm

The first year we put up speaker system a ASY pair would come from toward the neighbors small colony. They would do the same thing you describe. I don't know what happened at the nightbors colony but this ASY pair (or I think it was the same pair) ended up nesting in a gourd at our site. It was the last of May before it happened though. The next year we had 19 pair. Maybe some of the visitors will decide to stay. It is still early and new martins are coming in daily. Keep playing Dawnsong.

bigwill1767 · Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:24 pm

Since they seem more interested in the CD than the gourds should I turn off the CD when they are flying around? Same scenero, when I get my Dawnsong CD, do I turn it off when I have visitors or just let it play?

birdy girl · Sun Apr 25, 2010 7:33 am

Let it play but not too loud. I would let it play until martins are staying the night in the cavities. Then when you have a pair staying the night they will bring in more martins. Stop the CD when you have a pair staying the night.

KathyF · Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:02 am

bigwill - some things to consider:

- Do you have long flyways? (like Emil says - "so they can land like an airplane, not a helicopter") Make sure your housing is not located in a "bowl" of trees.

- what kind of entrances are on your gourds? Round or SREH? What entrances do your neighbors offer?
If your neighbors offer round holes, and your offer SREH, then perhaps you could switch 2 or 3 of your gourds to round holes that are closest to your viewing area (for pest control). Sometimes, if the martins aren't used to the SREH in your area, they won't be comfortable with the difference.

I started with round holes, because no one around here offers SREH. Then I slowly switched to Conley II entrances on my gourds, and the martins have no problems with them.

Best of luck to you this year - I hope you get a pair or two to stay. Keep trying - you will eventually get martins from the landlord's site that isn't actively helping his colony.

KathyF · Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:03 am

one other thing - the best time to observe your colony at this time of year to know if they are interested in your housing is early morning - from about 7 to 11 and in the evening - 6:30 - 8 or so.

Keep a sharp eye out - they're a bit sneaky when it's a new colony!

bigwill1767 · Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:44 pm

Thanks Birdy Girl and Kathy. They have a 4 acre field to come across to get to the rack so they soar in like a airplane across a long flyway. Sometimes they will be high overhead and just drop right in. I also have a 1/2 acre pond about 75 yards away from the gourds.
This morning I had 3 visitors and 1 stayed around for awhile and entered 5 different gourds then left for awhile and came back with 6 mores. Only 1 of these stayed for awhile. The 2 would go in different gourds and seemed like was trying to pick their favorite. A couple times they would both be in the same gourd for a few minutes. They would exit and 1 would go back in a gourd and 1 would stay on top of the rack. This went on for about an hour or so. I cant say the identification of either for sure because I am still learning the identification but they both had white undersides. Still looking at the pictures so I can try to identify correctly.
Thru out the day I would have what I think was the same PM bring friends over and he would stay on top of the rack and sing to his friends but they didnt stay so after a little bit he would leave and the process would repeat. I was very excited just to have them visiting my gourds. I was not home this evening to see what happened but I shined a light in the gourd holes and didnt see any so I dropped the rack to check it. The pine straw still looks the same as when I put it in so there was no nest building yet.
All the gourds have round holes at 2 1/4". My neighbors all use round entrances also. I plan to have a PM house next year with holes I can transfer from round to SREH in addition to my gourds.

bigwill1767 · Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:54 am

OK, I guess I got a little to anxious with the visits on Sunday. I havnt seen another visit since. I can see the PM at my neighbors but nothing at my place. They do fly high overhead but show no interest at my site since Sunday. My Dawnsong CD arrived yesterday and I played it til after dark and again this morning. No visitors.
I have pine straw in the gourds. I just wadded some up and put in there and patted it down some. Maybe they dont like my nest building. I will take some pictures of my setup and repost. Hopefully yall can advise me some pointers and maybe I am doing something wrong? If I have the CD too loud will it scare them off? I have my home stereo speakers on the porch about 50 ft away from the rack. I rode by my neighbors this morning and I could hear my CD playing from his place which is about 3-400 yards away.

gsimpson · Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:10 am

Someone on this forum told me to smear mud around the openings of my gourds to make them looked "lived-in". Did it last year and ended up with 2 pairs. Can't say it's helped this year. Only have 1 ASY male staying part time this year so far. Keep the faith.

bigwill1767 · Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:11 pm

I got some pics of my setup. Am I doing something wrong or anything else to do but wait? I wasnt home but my son said there were 3 visitors this evening and 1 was near hovering looking in gourd then flew up and around for a few minutes before leaving. Maybe this is the same 3 from my neighbors as before? I guess I'm just anxious
About the mud, how mush? Tablespoon at lip of door or just a little smear for the look of it? Will they think some PM already live there and cause them to leave?

gsimpson · Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:47 pm

I just took my finger and smeared mud around the crescent hole and on the porches, just enough to turn the white, beige. I found out they are messy when they nest and the theory is they want to nest where others have nested before. Nice, new, white gourds means nobody has lived there before. As I said, I did it last year and after 8 years of trying, was able to get 2 pairs. Maybe it was just dumb luck?

On a different note, I now have 1 ASY pair (spent the night together last night) and another ASY pair that was interacting and checking the gourds.

Good luck.

Gregg

bigwill1767 · Thu Apr 29, 2010 2:54 pm

Thanks Gregg. I will try the mud this evening. Congrats on your pair, hope you get more.

Keven

bigwill1767 · Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:38 pm

Coincidence IDK but yesterday I lightly smeared some mud around my gourd entrances and left a dab on the inside lip on the entrance. This morning I had 3 PM in and out of my gourds. All 3 appear to be SY male. Sometimes sitting on the gourd rack and sometimes in the gourds for several minutes then fly off about 50 ft and back in another gourd. This went on for about 2 hours and they were still there when I left for work. Can hardly wait to get home to see if they still there.

bigwill1767 · Mon May 03, 2010 11:39 am

I guess they really like the Dawnsong CD and just come by to listen for awhile then leave. 1 to 3 come by everyday and go in and out of the gourds, fly around, sit on top etc then leave. Maybe for a few minutes and sometimes they stay for a good while but they have not stayed overnight. I am pretty sure these are from my neighbors colony.