Easy way to make PM decoys more realistic...

[M.Stephens]

Pictures tell it all.....I hung four of them off of either house or racks at various lengths using bailing wire. Next time that Cooper's comes in he'll get plastic for sure. With the wind blowing like it is today they look pretty real.

[Anthony Neira]

Bravo ! Malcolm ! They look great! Now I need to find some brown plastic for this turkey hen decoy , & offer it to someone with Red Tail Hawk problems ! Yours are very Cool indeed ! Good luck!

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I take my plastic martin decoys from S&K, and I attach some starling wings to them, that definitely will fool the hawks. Need to replace the wings every few days.

[RockyBrueseke]

I like it! Recycling plastic. Great!

[Henry Limpet]

Very clever, indeed. I just added that to my "to-do" list. THANK YOU!

[Davlyn]

Malcolm ! Wow what a great idea ! I will be adding wings to all of mine , I have really been having trouble with a cooper for about a week now I mean real TROUBLE ! I know he got one because I saw it happen not sure if he has got any more ! Steve said it best Hawks in the daytime and OWLS at night ! I am going to get a couple of dove decoys and spike one in the ground and the other on my fence , I have noticed that most the time when the cooper gets a dove they are on the ground so that's why I am going to stake one in the ground .

[M.Stephens]

Thank you for the comments Anthony....a turkey decoy for a red-tailed hawk??...show me pics when you are through!!

Emil,
I've never thought of using starling wings? I've thought of using live starlings though!!....plastic will last longer.

Rocky,
I drink coffee every morning and have plenty of plastic coffee cans...

Henry,
I've seen others hang them without wings and use string instead of bailing wire....when the wind blows hard the wings will flap some and bounce the decoy around making them look real. It's best to face the decoy in the wind...it makes them look like they are gliding. Real martins will actually do that by their housing if there are real strong winds and they are trying to land. We had very strong winds out of the south today.

Davlyn,
I may set up some martin decoys on the ground when nest building starts but use galvanized pipe strap to make them flexible. I'll be using winged ones also and screw the pipe strap to a block of wood. I've had Cooper's hawks snatch them off of the ground while nest building.

I hope everyone has a terrific martin season this year....thank you so much for your comments!

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Malcolm, that's really neat!! Very ingenious. Better watch out though, some SY might fall madly in love with it.

[DebA]

Ray, too funny! LOL!!
Deb

[AnnieM]

Never ceases to amaze me how clever and creative PM landlords are.

[RockyBrueseke]

I decided to make my decoys like this. However I don't have the black coffee lids. I went to Michel's to find an alternative. During my visit I was helped by a great gal who had just moved into a house with a martin house. She was clueless as to the landlord business. She has seen a few visiting so she may have lucked into an established colony. I whipped out my phone and pulled up our site and sent it to her. She was so excited! Your decoy design opened the door for another future landlord. It was a "God wink."

[threelilkids]

Malcolm, Just had my first hawk attack today, He missed but your idea is great, thanks for helping us out with it. Looks great, Mary

[taxidermy lady]

Love this! I am going to do this! I have 4 decoys and will make 2 flying and 2 sitting! Thanks

[RB73]

Those wings look perfect, just curious if you drew those on free hand before cutting or if you were able to trace from a picture or something. I'd like to try this but not sure my free hand drawing and subsequent cut out would look that good.

Thanks in advance.

[M.Stephens]

Ray,
At roost time the evening I had put the decoys up and after having many hawk attacks my birds have been diving straight into the cavity. Well right after I got them up one ASY male flew in earlier thinking these were martins around the housing but he didn't hang around long.....I was kind of concerned for a minute but everything was fine.

AnnieM,
Thank you for the comment
I've been trying to think of ways to slow down the hawks...

RockyBrueseke,
Glad you got the sales lady to the right place to learn about martins!

Threelilkids,
Sorry to hear about your first hawk attack....I know decoys will help you. I just wanted some that fly or glide..to say. The baling wire does help them move more. When it's windy they move giving them a more lifelike appearance.

Taxidermylady,
I can't believe I'm influencing a taxidermist!! I bet your wings turn out better than mine!

RB73,
I looked at one of my martin flight pictures and free hand drew it on the coffee can lid with a sharpie. I traced the rest from the original I had first cut out.

I hope these modified decoys can help everyone!

[M.Stephens]

Here's a pic yesterday evening of one of the gliding decoys under my Gemini...luckily I haven't witnessed any hawk attacks for the last two evenings. My martins are all in for the night in this shot. Not the greatest I-phone pic.