New to Purple Martins

[mhancock]

I am brand new to Purple Martins and just looking for a little advice to hopefully attract them this year and for years to come.

I recently purchased an 16 room aluminum house with a telescoping pole. I live on a local lake in SW Michigan so just wondering about a few things?

When should I put the house out? Can I put pole in the lake far enough away from the shore and areas where I've seen Bluebirds and House Sparrows and how far should that be?

Do I need to purchase door plugs or starling resistant crescent entrances to deter both the starlings and house sparrows.

I'm sure I will have more questions as time goes along, but appreciate any help or feedback.

Thank you

[C.C.Martins]

Welcome to the forum! 16 room aluminum house with telescoping pole sounds like a heath house. Sounds close?
Wherever you put it think a bit closer to your activity vs farther away and in an open fly way. You have plenty of time but if I were you I'd start planning a good spot now.
Sparrows will come wherever its at, blue birds you can provide a nest box for them at the edge of your property I think. Dont think they will try to nest in there.
Hope you get some martins!

[h2y]

Check out http://chuckspurplemartinpage.com/ for a great introduction+ to PMs. Go to "Martin Bio Page" and near the bottom is a US map of PM's ETA.

I think I'm misreading your post about considering putting your pole in the water? You want it on land, near your house so you can monitor & access the house and also to eliminate all sparrows via shooting or trapping. Bluebirds are desirable and won't use the PM house. Definitely use SREHs (Starling Resistant Entry Holes) if there's any chance of starlings in your area.

I've learned 3 things the hard way:
1. to nest telescopic poles down to ~10' to strengthen against high winds. 10' high houses are plenty tall;
2. from the beginning, install a predator guard. I make my own out of an 8" x 5' galvanized duct pipe to thwart 6'+ chicken snakes. Nothing more disheartening than to find a snake in your house bloated with birds/fledglings/eggs and it's no fun extracting the snake 10'+ up in the air; and
3. make the cavities/rooms at least 6x6x12". Depending on what house you have, it might mean you now have an 8 room house but do it for the birds' sake. These birds are ~8" long (mutiplied by 2 adults + ~4 grown fledglings). Also protects against hawk & owl attacks.

[flyin-lowe]

Couple thoughts. An important part of successfully hosting martins is nest checks. While having the pole in the water would deter some predators, it would not be ideal for nest checks, maintenance, wing entrapments, etc. Also every year I have some jumpers. Depending on the temps, some years I have a couple, some years there are multiples every day. Depending on their age, landing in the water is probably a death sentence for most of them.

I always recommend SREH entrances. They will keep 99% or more of all starlings out. This is one less thing you have to worry about.
If there are no martin colonies nearby your house I would also recommend getting something to play the dawn song once martins start arriving in your area. It will draw their attention to your property, once they swoop in and see the housing it is up to mother nature after that. The dawnsong won't make them stay but it will draw them in close enough to realize there is a house there.

[mhancock]

Thank you all for the replies and help.

I have seen other PM houses around the lake and the poles were in the water. I'll look for a area along the shoreline far enough away from a few trees that surround our property.

I'll also keep an eye out and watch the nests for House Sparrows and pay attention to the starlings as they start to move back north. I have an old tree where the Bluebirds nested last year and I'm trying to keep them out of there as well. I also work on seeing if the boxes can be made larger by removing any walls inside for more space.

This forum has been a great resource!!

[h2y]

Mr. Hancock, curious why you don't want Bluebirds? They are not a nuisance or danger to PMs and the 2 species coexist just fine down our way. In fact, I don't see any interaction between the two. We don't have near enough BBs here but the insufferable starlings and sparrows could be the cause of that.

[Jones4381]

Blue Birds are such a joy to watch. I put up additional boxes this year as I've counted 3 pair this year while i wait on the Martins. They are the prelude to the Martins arrivals along with the tree swallows in these parts. Good luck in inviting all of these wonderful species into your back yard as they coexist naturally if provided proper housing and management. Good luck

[mhancock]

I do want BB's and are trying to get them to use the nesting box and dead tree where they have hollowed out a hole.

My biggest issue would be with the HOSPS and Starlings.

Mr. Hancock, curious why you don't want Bluebirds? They are not a nuisance or danger to PMs and the 2 species coexist just fine down our way. In fact, I don't see any interaction between the two. We don't have near enough BBs here but the insufferable starlings and sparrows could be the cause of that.

[h2y]

Sorry about that...I misinterpreted your post.

[mhancock]

I am researching the best spot to put my PM house up and just wondering if there are specific distances from trees or other nesting areas?

The ideal location is about 15 feet away from the nearest tree as well as a dead tree that HOSP's used to nest last year.

Thank you.

[deancamp]

The rule of thumb on the distance from a tree is that if the tree was to fall it wouldn't hit the house. Just a good measuring stick. Keep as many open flyways to and from the housing as possible. If you know how to post an ariel picture of your property from Google earth it would help in assisting you to find the best housing location.

[mhancock]

Jeff,

Hopefully this link will help show the frontage on the lake. We have the house with the red roof.

I do not want to put it near the firepit as we use that very often during the summer and there is usually alot of activity around that.

Thanks,

Mark

https://goo.gl/maps/9k3TDibFiQxPrBfH7

[deancamp]

Yeah, looks good and open coming in from the lake. I would think just to the right of your ramp going out to the dock. It appears you can keep reasonable spacing from your fire pit and the tree on the opposite property line. They will get used to activity as well. Good Luck

[mhancock]

Jeff,
Do you think I could go to the left of the dock? We usually swim on the right because it’s the sandier of the two sides.

Thanks for the suggestion and help.

Mark

[deancamp]

Yes, I think so. I suggested to the right because of your comment about staying away from the fire pit. With your open lawn to the lake anywhere in the center section looks good. Think of it as using the most open area for the housing and flyways. They feel safer being able to see predators as they approach.

[mhancock]

Thank you . I think i’ll try there and see what happens. Going to try and get it up this weekend and hopefully we’ll get some this year..

[deancamp]

Good Luck, anything you can do to your housing to make it lived in will help. Dawn song, decoys, prenesting, a little smeared mud around the openings. Purple Martins want to be with other Purple Martins, make it look like some already live there.

[h2y]

Will you be able to shoot a pellet gun there? Safety first, so consider your misses & what's in line and proximity. Also, the orientation of your PM house to be able to shoot sparrows off both sides. If can't shoot, you will need to trap. I hate to be the grim reaper but it goes with hosting.

[Thomas Maddox]

Blue Birds are such a joy to watch. I put up additional boxes this year as I've counted 3 pair this year while i wait on the Martins. They are the prelude to the Martins arrivals along with the tree swallows in these parts. Good luck in inviting all of these wonderful species into your back yard as they coexist naturally if provided proper housing and management. Good luck

Jones, just curious, how close are your BB houses? And are they in plain view of each other?

[Jones4381]

anywhere from 75 to 120 yards from one another but none of the solo's are in view of each other. I have 4 set up in a row of about 70 yards but they are for both the TS and BB and only 2 of the 4 have been occupied during the season and these 4 are all within view and in strait line of my Martin racks....the BB keep other BB's away and the same for the TS's. I have 1 house about 70 yards away from these 4 on east side of house, 1 about 100+ yards away at top of field for either TS or BB but no takers yet on this one and a third on south side of house about 80 yards away from the set of 4 and 1 to the east but out of site of all of them. BB don't like other BB's around their territory but will put up with a pair of TS is my experience. Weird thing this year is I'm seeing more BB's than every before and hearing them everywhere on my property (20 acres with trails)....there so plentiful this year and all in the woods and edges of fields....don't know if I have 25 BB's or its only 5 or 6 and they're following me but there sounds are everywhere but no nest building yet...will be interesting to see where the build this year.
The TS's haven't used the same nest site in any of the 3 years I've been doing this and I've only had 1 pair of TS to ever settle here. Warming here 70's today thru Sunday and the TS's mysteriously showed up and flying everywhere today doing there thing....still only 1 PM as he's been solo for 4 nights now going on a 5th. Good luck Thomas.