straw man helping so far

[Trishy]

It has only been a day and a half, but Oscar, hope I am not offending anyone here, has been doing his job. I am moving him frequently. No hawk attacks since putting him out yesterday morning. I suspect it is only a matter of time before the hawks figure it out though. They are pretty smart. I still go outside occasionally, and walk around the yard. I do have 2 martin decoys up and 2 dove decoys. The hawk has gone away empty handed a few times because the decoys just wouldn't play right. Awesome sight. My colony is totally surrounded by trees, with basically one runway used by the martins. It does make it tough keeping them safe. Actually, I am surprised they started nesting here to begin with. A couple of years ago I had to put cages around the gourds because my camera caught an owl attacking a gourd. The cages have worked good. No owl attacks since then. I have decided that if I continue to have mega hawk problems I may stop putting gourds up, and close up the colony. Breaks my heart when they end up as a meal. I understand a hawk coming through occasionally, but don't think I can tolerate it when they are as persistent as this one is. Thank you everyone for your response. I will let you know how things go.

[C.C.Martins]

I hope it all turns out ok. I suppose cutting the trees is just not an option?

Oscar is a good name, we named ours Fred. looks sort of spooky, I made his eyes and mouth big and black so they would stand out against his white head...rather ghastly.

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

Trishy

Glad the straw man is working.

Our site is also surrounded by trees. We are an 'in-town' site.. Flyways are the cross streets and across back yards. However, the martins have been in this neighborhood for years, even before we moved here. Yes, coopers hawks are a problem. Look closely at the forum, they are a problem for all PM sites, trees or not. Trees give the hawk a sneak up advantage though.

You're doing different things that will help. Keep up the diligent effort.

Might I offer a suggestion though? Take the decoys down if they are on or very near your housing. Perimeter decoys work best with sites that have trees. You want to draw attention away from your colony, not towards it. The hawk might go for a decoy that's not so close and show itself in time for the martins to sound alarm and escape.
Some landlords use perimeter bird feeders for the same reason.

And try a cheap green safety vest. Put in on a hanger and hang it on a garden staff near your housing. I use a hanger that I got from a clothing store, plastic with a metal swivel hook. I clip the vest to the hanger to keep it from blowing off the hangar and I use a spring type clamp to secure it to the hook on the garden staff. A strong wind will keep blowing it off the hook. I also added another spring clamp to the bottom of the vest to give it a bit of weight to hang better. This set up can be moved around the area easily. I have several in place. Many people have told me that they thought someone was in my yard, only to look again and see it's just a safety vest hanging there. I hope the hawk thinks so too.

Remember, the hawk has been successful at your site and knows the martins are there. Just like the owl. Limiting it's success rate and changing its pattern is the best we can hope for. Speaking from experience here. We do the best we can. Still very hard.

LOL...now I'm getting things together for my own straw man. I figure one more piece of crazy stuff in my yard certainly won't hurt. My neighbors just chuckle and know it's probably for the birds. My season is about over so they will soon miss all the entertainment that that the martins and I provide.

Judy

[Trishy]

Good advice Judy. I will move the martin decoys. The doves are away from the gourd racks.

No, cutting the trees are not an option. We cut a few trees out of the woods to make room for the house. I wish it was. I shall do the best I can. All but 2 of the gourds should be leaving by the end of the week. That should cut down on the attention at the gourd rack. As much as I hate to see them go, this year I will be glad when the season ends. I need some sleep. Thanks everyone.

[pmlover]

strawman will only work temporarily . When the hawks get desparite nothing helps them. Andrew troyer even tried those blow up gumbi men that that move fast and are yellow. They are also used to advertise sales. They worked for a short time then fizzeled out. We have found that the the only way we can stop them is to take our kubota rtv drive it back and forth under the houses about 4 times a day. we want to go on vacation but wont until, The pms have all fledged. We have 28 to go out of 650

[Trishy]

You are right pmlover. They came in a couple of times yesterday when I was home. I don't know how many times when I was at work. Well, nice while it lasted. I have taken the martin decoys down for now. Guess I will spend most of my time in the yard until they leave.