In 2016 I used a bunch of purple martin decoys attached to about 8 foot tall poles to help deflect Accipiter hawk (Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks) and merlin (small fast falcons) attacks on our purple martins. My decoy poles were scattered in open areas anywhere from about 50 feet to over 100 feet away from our two personal purple martin colonies, mine and my neighbor Bob’s site.
I prefer the decoy pole approach and locating the decoys AWAY from the inside of our martin colonies. In this way the Accipiters and merlins tend to hit the decoys first at a distance while the martins are scattering, building up speed and streaking to the safety of the open sky. Other folks attach the decoys directly to martin houses or gourd racks and that is fine, too.
When the decoy poles are located outside the colony, I have noticed that some raptors will hit multiple decoys and give the real martins even more time to escape.
Sometimes a Cooper’s or sharp-shinned hawk would hang or perch on a decoy and try to pull it off while real martins located farther away in our colonies were rapidly bolting and heading for the open sky.
Most of the martin decoy poles are located south of my colony in an open area and that is the direction that migrant Accipiters and merlins often come from during March, mainly in April and early May.
For 2017 I am expanding my martin decoy pole approach to include decoy mourning doves, too. Doves are a key prey item for Cooper’s hawks in particular and a large female sharp-shinned hawk or merlin could also take them. The smaller male sharpie or merlin may try for a dove if hungry enough. I will be scattering dove decoy poles around the outside of our colonies. I have observed Cooper’s hawks catching mourning doves and pigeons.
In 2016 I watched numerous attacks by migrant Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, merlins and one magnificent female peregrine falcon on the martin decoys. The decoys probably saved the lives of many real martins. Some of these attacks were spectacular! I remember watching a female Cooper’s hawk drop straight down in a spiraling stoop as if she was trying to “anticipate” the possible escape flight of a martin decoy! The hawk hit the martin decoy hard and tried to pull it off the pole! Another time I watched a female merlin come in like a jet fighter and hit almost every decoy I had south of my colony and she was in a manic state! All our martins were high in the sky and then launched a ferocious counter mobbing attack when the merlin finally left and headed north. And the most unusual attack was by a low flying large female peregrine falcon that attacked several martin decoys near my martin colony and then casually flew over to Bob’s site and hit several decoys! Bob was there also and that was the first peregrine falcon he had ever seen coming through our martin colonies. I see maybe a dozen peregrines each season, mainly during the last week of April and continuing until mid-May and these raptors are usually the latest that migrate over our colonies.
The other day I started placing some of my decoy poles to the south of my martin colony. I use 6 foot long 3/8 inch diameter fiberglass rods fastened together with zip ties and 6 foot long garden stakes connected in the same way. Though I hate fire ants, their nests make it easy to stick the poles in the ground! The ants break up the soil and the poles can be more easily pushed down in the dirt.
I attach the martin decoys by drilling a hole in the lower belly area of the decoy and then inserting the pole inside. This keeps the decoy upright and fairly tight on the pole. The little plastic clip that comes with the decoy to fasten it to something does not hold up well and one night an owl ripped several decoys off! The dove decoys already have a hole for this approach.
I like using multiple decoy poles and this approach may better lure Accipiters and merlins away from the real martins because of sheer numbers. There are more “slow” opportunities for the raptors and some of these predators will hit several decoys before moving on.
Since I have many decoy poles scattered about, I usually don’t move them that much but sometimes I do. If you have just a few decoys, then moving them around may better “trick” resident Accipiters that are frequently attacking your martin colony and possibly feeding young. Nearly all the raptor attacks on my decoys during March, mainly April, and early May are probably migrants which are passing over/through. So these predators aren’t staying around and make an attack or two and then keep on going. The resident Cooper’s hawks primarily hunt martin fledglings during June and July AWAY from our colonies and the decoys probably have little impact on minimizing raptor predation on the martin fledglings.
One problem with using decoy poles is the wind. Sometimes strong winds may cause the poles to bend, particularly the garden stakes. So I do have to occasionally straightened poles or maybe push them a little deeper in the ground.
Accipiter hawks and merlins are martin predators and these bird eating raptors may be learning to associate martin houses/gourds with food. This situation is similar to raptors hunting birds at bird feeding stations.
One way to possibly minimize successful raptor predation on your martins is to place martin or other small bird decoys either on your martin houses/gourd racks or on separate poles to deflect the attacks. The raptors may go for the “slowest” martins which would be the decoy while the real martins escape to the safety of the open sky. However, the decoys may not work all the time and raptors, depending on where they are when beginning an attack, may still succeed in catching martins. Also some raptors may “learn” the difference between a decoy and a real martin and start ignoring decoys.
I have included photos showing separate poles for my martin and dove decoys. There is a photo showing my “forest” of decoy poles south of my martin colony. On the photo showing a lot of decoy poles, you can see a line of trees. These trees border a cow pasture and are around 100 yards from my martin colony. Accipiter hawks will sometimes hide in these trees and launch attacks. The decoys are almost irresistible to the hawks and the hawks often hit the decoys first.
Photo of mourning decoy on pole.
Photo of martin decoy on pole.
Photo of multiple martin/mourning dove decoys on poles.
Steve