2017 Wannabe report

[flyin-lowe]

Hello Mitch, my father was not trying so you've got someone else in mind..... Good to hear from you none the less.

I think I remember when you set up a T-14 in the back of your property and ended up getting 5 pair your first year!! Man I would be bummed to have had to move and start all over again!! I'm hoping I can get a colony rolling this year!! Am I correct that you had a wooden house and got started your first year? I think you had big open fields behind your house.

Mitch

You got part of it right, the description of the house and property are spot on. The first year I had nesting martins I did have 5 pair. However that was not my first year trying. It was my 5th year trying to get martins. If I remember correctly you are near a local roost and have hundreds of visitors late each season?? I really thought being experienced that starting a second colony would be easier, however here I am 5 years in again. I've had a few SY pair from time to time but that's about it. Lots of visitors but no ASY's have ever returned.

[Mitch Booth]

Flyin-Lowe,

Yes you are correct. I'm about 3/4 to a mile from the Nimisila Roost and do get birds by the hundreds nightly in the month of
August. I've done everything I can at this point. I even had Andy and Adam Troyer down from Birds Paradise and they gave me some pointers as well. I took them over to the boat ride at Nimisila Roost to watch the birds. It will be interesting if the roost returns this year or not as we had a swamp owl attacking in the third week of August causing the entire roost to be abandoned a week or so earlier than usual.

I did make a couple of mallard nest tubes for my pond and have a hen using one of them. 6 pairs of tree swallows around the pond, 2 pairs of bluebirds and one nest of chickadees. My wood ducks did not nest this year. I have 3 gourd racks up with one Super gourd on a sheppard's hook housing tree swallows and that one pair will not allow ANY other tree swallow to come close to the gourd racks. They do not bother any other birds landing on the rack so it will be interesting to see how things play out when the sub adults start to arrive. Last year I had the gourd racks in three completely separate areas of the property and it was a nightmare trying to control the tree swallows. I tried implementing that tree swallow emergency and it seems to be working.

Mitch

[greenporter]

Yes it is a hobby that you have no control over! You can only do so much then it's up to them!
If I didn't have all you good folks Encouragement my enthusiasm would be sunk!
I tell myself their just birds! Seems to make it all better! Lol

Hey Sharon - they may be "just birds", but the amount of planning, labor and $$$ we put in for them ain't chicken scratch. What other winged creature do we fret over so much? Not complaining here, it feels so right when they *do* make an appearance and put on their song and dance routines. Junkies for the PM thrill. Then POOF, they disappear one day and we start planning for the next year? Crazy (us).

[taxidermy lady]

I have to say that to myself to keep it simple! I have worked hard and spent money on trying to attract them! But after 5 yrs. it will drive you bonkers if you dont keep it simple! It will happen some day! Good luck!

[Dan G]

Still a card carrying member of the wannabee club. Cant wait till there are no members though. We do what we can, but like Sharon says, nothing else to do, but wait. some day, some day.
Harry Carey, announcer for the Chicago Cubs, said along time ago, "Sure as God made little green apples, the Cubs will win the world series." It took 108 years, but it happened. We cant wait that long, but..... we will wait as long as it takes.

[Mitch Booth]

Well I'm finally at peace with my set-up. There isn't much else I can do. I have 3 gourd racks up with 12 on each rack, all SREH and a mix of Super gourds, naturals and THG all with tunnels, porches and Conley II entrances. I have virtually no S&S as they are eliminated immediately. All I can do at this point in time is sit back and wait and I will be okay if I do not get nesting pair(s). It's happened twice before so I must have done something correct in the past. I'm physically and mentally exhausted with changing things every year and will not be making ANY changes after this season whether I get nesting pairs or not. I feel fortunate enough having the mallards, bluebirds, tree swallows and chickadees.

Good luck everyone!

Mitch

[taxidermy lady]

You and me both Mitch! I'm done! It's all good for them! It just has to be when their ready!!! I wish you the best of luck!

[C.C.Martins]

Mitch, Guess its like fishing, get all the best gear, pick the right spot, all the best baits, pray alot...AND wait. You've done what you can, let nature take over. Good luck sir! Iv been pulling lots of weeds in the back...watching.

[handyman315]

So much of this sounds "too" familiar.

Actually LOLed at what greenporter said:

"I have taken to playing the PM dawn song out the window -- my wife thinks I am at the very least possessed and possibly a little batty. So be it. Speaking of "batty", I think I will put up a bat house this year too!"

You gotta love bird lovers . . . although some neighbors think we're crazy.

[taxidermy lady]

Calling all wannabes do this!
It's all about making a fake colony! I was told by a wonderful person that""" I don't have martins because I don't have martins! """"Martins want to be with martins! So you have to fake them to thinking martins live here! Play your dawnsong! Get you some decoys and stick in the entrances like they are looking out! Make some fake nest! Tear a small pc. of cardboard, get some hobby clay and shape the clay into small Martin eggs. Place them on the cardboard! Paint the eggs white! Smash a decoy down in the middle so looks like Martin sitting on eggs! Make sure the white eggs are visible! Then build a nest to where the eggs and decoy are seen through the opening! when a visiting martin comes by and looks in they will say " well I be this is a good place to nest"! I made 3 fake nest and put them on each setup! Smear mud, get your songmagnet up there in a cavity so it sounds like it's coming from that house and put your fake nest in that house!
I guess what I'm saying is you have to think like a Martin! Lol GOODLUCK!!!!!

The pair I have now is sitting in the gourd with a fake nest! They have a friend!!!!

[Mitch Booth]

Sharon,

Is your pair Asy or Sy?

Mitch

[taxidermy lady]

Mitch he is an ASY and I think she is SY! Still investigating that! But yesterday I got a pretty good look at her butt and it pretty and white! Lol

[Mitch Booth]

Sharon,

I currently play the Dawnsong 24/7 from a ground speaker about 20 feet from my 3 gourd racks on the other side of my driveway. I think I will run a power horn on the middle gourd rack between the two levels of gourds. Our wave of SY's has really not hit yet this year here in Northeast Ohio. You should get some more nesters especially having the ASY male in residence.

Mitch

[taxidermy lady]

Mitch do you have mirrors up! I had a few inside cavities! The fake nest with eggs and decoy sitting on them is a show stopper I think! I did it last year but it was the end of May when I did it! Who knows what did it but now it's pouring rain for the second day right now! Wind is blowing like heck! It's like November right now! Ugh! Good luck!

[Mitch Booth]

I currently do not have mirrors or eggs although have tried the mirrors in the past. I will move the speaker directly underneath the middle gourd rack pointing up, put my mirrors back in and head out this evening to get some modeling clay. I hope if I do get martins that I get more than one pair. Twice now I've had one pair only to get a big fat zero the next year.

Mitch

[taxidermy lady]

Yes anything is worth a try! Put your fake nest with eggs in a cavity that your visitors usually look in! It seemed my visitors always looked in the ones closest to the speakers! The best is yet to come! I haven't seen mine all day but so crappy here not fit for anything! I hope they come back! Goodluck!

[dubluv]

Well I'm finally at peace with my set-up. There isn't much else I can do. I have 3 gourd racks up with 12 on each rack, all SREH and a mix of Super gourds, naturals and THG all with tunnels, porches and Conley II entrances. I have virtually no S&S as they are eliminated immediately. All I can do at this point in time is sit back and wait and I will be okay if I do not get nesting pair(s). It's happened twice before so I must have done something correct in the past. I'm physically and mentally exhausted with changing things every year and will not be making ANY changes after this season whether I get nesting pairs or not. I feel fortunate enough having the mallards, bluebirds, tree swallows and chickadees.

Good luck everyone!

Mitch

Mitch, all i can say is good luck. i'm only in my second year, so after reading yours and others, I realize its a waiting game that may be affected by things beyond our control. so,

[TheSmiths]

We've been trying in earnest to attract PMs since 2014. Our housing is an old M12K modified to 6, mounted at 15' with 6 gourds on a rack below it. All housing has SREH, contains pine straw, and the entrances are smeared with mud. A few decoys are standing guard and the dawn song/chatter audio is played on a loop for approx 8 hrs each day. (It used to play longer but the MP3 battery is dying). We made the decision to move the house a bit but it will not stop raining long enough for us to do so. Sadly, we've never heard nor seen a PM near our home.

We've also been trying to entice the Great Crested Flycatchers and the Northern Flickers to nest for 2 yrs and 3 yrs respectively. (We took the Flicker box down several weeks ago to relocate it but haven't been able to re-erect it due to all the rain).

On the bright side... thus far this year our other "housing" has fledged 3 Mockingbirds, 4 Bluebirds, & 5 Chickadees. A House Wren currently has 2 ladies -- one is incubating 6 eggs and the other just laid egg #3 of her clutch. A second pair of Bluebirds is attempting to nest but the HW is giving them grief. This is the first year we've had Baltimore Orioles come to our feeders -- 2 sub-adult males and 2 mature males -- and we've had a juvenile Bald Eagle pay us a visit. A few days ago a Ruby Throated Hummingbird declared our feeders his and is now defending them against interlopers -- this is the earliest we've ever had one stake a claim.

[tor]

Well here we go again. I keep looking for updates from Sharon and Mary (Taxidermy Lady and Mama Bruff). There are others as well but I can't think of them at the moment. I was thinking flyin-Lowe's dad was trying to start a colony too but I could be wrong.

Anyways I currently have a nest of mallards that took to my straw nesting tube mounted above the water, 2 pair of bluebirds, 1 pair of chickadees and 6 pair of TS. This year I put all three gourd racks about 15-20 feet apart and the one pair of tree swallows on a Shepard's pole is doing a great job of keeping ALL other tree swallows off the gourd racks. I tried to implement the tree swallow emergency article here on the Forum.

Good luck everyone!

Mitch

Hope you get Martins this year, Mitch. Good Luck to you.

Have about 35 nesting pair (roughly), a sub-adult with a splinted right wing metacarpal (another week and I'll take the splint off. But for now, he's in jail munching on fat giant mealworms.)

Also trying to make a barn swallow pair stay. They've been casing out our place, and seem itchy to start muddin'

[Martinfarmer]

Well I'm finally at peace with my set-up. There isn't much else I can do. I have 3 gourd racks up with 12 on each rack, all SREH and a mix of Super gourds, naturals and THG all with tunnels, porches and Conley II entrances. I have virtually no S&S as they are eliminated immediately. All I can do at this point in time is sit back and wait and I will be okay if I do not get nesting pair(s). It's happened twice before so I must have done something correct in the past. I'm physically and mentally exhausted with changing things every year and will not be making ANY changes after this season whether I get nesting pairs or not. I feel fortunate enough having the mallards, bluebirds, tree swallows and chickadees.

Good luck everyone!

Mitch

Hi Mitch, I'm a beginner as well. I started last year and it looks like I will have success this year. I have close to thirty Martins, I'm not sure how many will pair yet. They are nest building like mad.
One thing I wanted to share with you. Last year I put up a CD player under the PM house playing the dawn song 24 hrs. Nothing came until August, I suspect they were my neighbors hatchlings. They came everyday and would investigate and sit on the power lines. The most that came in a day was around 15. Ocassionally an adult male would come by and look and then leave.
This spring I had one pair of adults who already appeared to be paired show up. They would leave everyday about noon and gradually they started bringing more martins back with them.
Good luck and you will get martins this year.
Mike