photos of my site

[Ryan]

Here's a few pictures of my site. I don't think there's anything very wrong with it, but it's always good for some very experienced people to take a look at in case there would be issues.


I put everything up last spring. I had one SY male visit for a good part of a month. He arrived May 27th of last year. I was hoping he would be back this year with a mate, but that hasn't happened so far.


Martins were once very common here, but they are no longer. The closest colony is about 20 miles north east as the crow flies. Last year I saw about 10 birds there at the busiest time. The house is a slum with starlings and sparrows nesting in the same house. I went to visit the last few weekends and only yesterday did I see one SY bird. I fear that maybe the cold spring killed the older birds, or they moved on. Where, I don't know because there is a major lack of quality housing. Most of it has grown in with trees from the past generation...a time when purple martins were common here.


I've been playing the dawnsong daily, but the birds are so rare here it will take time. Playing the dawnsong all day last year only brought in that one bird.


I'm sitting right on the north range and it feels like being the last stop on an empty bus.










My home has too many trees, so I found a neighbour just a couple hundred yards up the street that had this vacant lot and was nice enough to let me use it. I think it should work great once I can attract some birds.

There is 1000 foot flyways on three sides. The acre lot attaches to a large school yard on one side and a graveyard on the other. There is a large river 200 yards from the site. You may be able to see it in one of the photos.

[Mary Dawnsong]

Hi Ryan,

Very cool housing! Love the chalets! Did you make them yourself?

My first reaction is that the site is too far from human housing. The recommendation is to locate it within 100' of a home, but closer is better. I do understand that you are limited in where you can locate it. Even close proximity to a barn or other outbuilding is better than nothing.

Regarding the dawnsong, see this post by Peter C.
http://purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20185

Other advanced attraction techniques:
http://purplemartin.org/forumarchives/a ... ggesti.htm
(Though it may be painful for you too smear mud all over those nice chalets.)

Good luck,
Mary

[flyin-lowe]

That was my thought exactly. Martins see human housing and human activity as safety. The close they are to humans the more they like it. I have seen sites with trees all around and some even touching the housing, right in the back yard in a town. So if I were you I would go ahead and put up a house or gourd rack in your yard and see what happens. Some martins would rather be closer to humans and have trees near by and some would rather not have trees near by even if it means they are farther away from humans. You can give them both options. Also it seems that were I am from 4-5 years is a common time frame to get a colony started. So up were you are and without any colonies close by it may be longer. Good luck and don't give up.

[Ryan]

Yes, I built the chalets a couple winters back.

My house is a pine jungle in the backyard. I would be wasting time and money on housing here. It's literally a forest in a valley. Not good. It's about 250 yards back in the first picture. Too many trees.


At the site, there is a house in the second picture about 100' away on the left side hidden in the trees. The busy school is 50 feet from that house. You can see part of it on the extreme left. The guys house is not that far really, my rack is set-up in his backyard. It's not so much a vacant lot like I called it in the first post.

[John Miller]

I've read that some northern landlords observe that martins favor chalets in an established colony with mixed housing. Yours are beautiful; the site looks great, and I think it's close enough to human activity -- especially from your description. I sure hope you get martins.

John M

[Aaron H]

Ryan... That is a very nice set up you have, From what i can see in the pictures
all you need is to have a pair show up together, i am for sure no expert on what
it takes to get and keep martins, but what i have seen an read, you have a great
lay out to get and keep them. I really like the way you have fixed up your houses
and pole, they are very neat. looks like you have done all you can to be ready
for the martins, so now it is their turn. it's only a matter of time till you get them
good luck to you.

[TheCav-MO]

Very nice chalets. The whole set up looks first class to me. I hope you get some renters this year

[Gobbler T]

Ryan,
I love the look of a chalet site. Theres just something different about them, and yours looks great. Good luck!

[TheCav-MO]

Very nice chalets. The whole set up looks first class to me. I hope you get some renters this year

[dsonyay]

Looks like a Swiss Ski Resort

Very nice! You did a great job.

[Ryan]

I've read that some northern landlords observe that martins favor chalets in an established colony with mixed housing. Yours are beautiful; the site looks great, and I think it's close enough to human activity -- especially from your description. I sure hope you get martins.

John M

Thanks John. I've always liked the look of gourds. It's hard to beat that clean look of the Gemini system, but gourds are not the greatest choice up here. If I can attract a few pairs of PM's, I'll experiment with some gourds.

I read up on much of what the landlords were doing in Alberta. They've really increased the population there in a fairly short time. I'd like to do the same here with some help and luck.

I bought Bob Buskas' Northstar plans and was going to build that house, but at the last minute I switched the chalet rack, mainly because it closely resembles that look of a gourd rack that I really like. I will probably build a North Star sometime in the future. I like the look of that house.

The chalet rack took me to Bernie Nikolai. I asked him a lot of questions which he had all of the answers for. His tests ranked the chalet rack #1 in the northern range, so I went with it here, because we share the same territory characteristics.

I just wish there were more birds around that would at least get a chance to look at my site. One look in a year is making for slow progress. The county that I'm in is 2,858 sq miles, and I really don't know if there would be 50 purple martins in that area. It's scarce. I have not found any other sites than the one that is dwindling.

[Wetterdale]

Ryan:

I have to agree that you have a really cool set up. Firstly, here is a link from the Ontario government that shows breeding evidence of PMs in Ontario. I see colour in your area so that is promising.

http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/wildspa ... Map&Lang=e

I don't have any PMs yet either and this is my second year of trying. I have had two sets of visitors in the last week that I have noticed, so I am getting excited. I swear that the reason I have visitors this year is because of the dawncall and daytime chatter that I am playing. You said that you have them playing too, but are they good and loud? I bought two horn speakers and mounted them on my TV antenna and when playing I can hear them a sideroad over. And play them all day. My visitors came through at 8:30 am and 8:30 pm.

One more thought. Walk through all the critical steps one and by one and verify that you got things right. I learned that I had missed a critical detail last night. Now that I had visitors, I noticed that none were able to get into the entrances. So I went out and double checked the measurements and low and behold they were undersize by almost 1/16th of an inch. I suspect it was mainly due to all the coats of paint I have been splashing on last year and this year. Duh!

Good luck.

Dale

[Ryan]

I play the dawnsong quite loud all day. It's certainly works, and I'm sure it's the only reason I had one visitor last year.

Thanks for the map link. I think I've seen it before. I know martins did nest here readily in the past. The last colony disappeared in the late 90's, early 2000's. Tree encroached site, if I had to guess now, knowing what I've read here.

20 years ago even small compartment cold aluminium housing was filled in not so great sites. The birds were very easy to attract, so I know they can survive here. There are four large lakes within a 15 minute drive all four directions from here.

I guess it's just going to take time. I'm hoping to see some sub-adult birds due to the great year most of the colonies had last year.

[BobbyG]

I like your house I think its as close as you can get to gourds with out actually bying them I did the same thing out of alum. I was reading how steve kroenke has had such great success with gaurds over houses I made 60 of them I only put 12 together so I could see how the birds reacted this year and so far its a winner I will post a picture of my new houses tomorrow.

[Ryan]

Thanks. If you google "Buskas Bungalows", Bob has plans available. I just made mine up by eye.

I'd like to see your aluminum version.

[mwren]

Ryan,
Your chalet's look awesome ! Can you raise and lower them on a pulley system? I couldnt tell from the pics if you can do nest checks etc.
Great looking site, just looking for tenants ! Good luck.

[Ryan]

Ryan,
Your chalet's look awesome ! Can you raise and lower them on a pulley system? I couldnt tell from the pics if you can do nest checks etc.
Great looking site, just looking for tenants ! Good luck.

I can lower and raise them. I built this set of chalets after the set pictured here, check it out:

https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... a5cf1692fa

I improved a few things on this set. The Aluminum pole is so much smoother than wood. I placed nylon furniture feet inside my wood circles and it moves up and down with ease. I beefed up the wood discs as well with 1 1/4" cedar so they're light and rigid. I dropped the slope of the roofs on the chalets as well.