POLE HIEGHT

[Guest]

THIS IS MY FIRST YEAR WITH P.M. I HAD 3 PAIRS THAT FLEDGED 11
YOUNG WITH NO LOSSES I CAN FIND. NEXT YEAR I'M PUTTING UP A NEW HOUSE & A NEW TELESCOPING POLE ON THE OLD ONE. THE OLD HOUSE IS ABOUT 14 FT. OFF THE GROUND. THE NEW POLES ARE ONLY 12 FT. TALL. WILL THAT TURN AWAY THE RETURNING MARTINS @ THE OLD HOUSE ? THE OTHER WILL BE A NEW LOCATION.
THANKS,
MARK HARPER

[John Miller]

Congratulations on your success this year. Arn't these just the coolest birds!

You'll probably be fine at 12 feet. I helped set up two houses at a new golf course site this year. Both at first were about 11 feet and I had the golf course guys add an extention to one pole to get it up to about 13 feet. The single pair of martins at the site chose the 11 footer.

Generally, landlords in the south can get away with lower poles. Further north, martins seem to prefer higher. My only caution for you is to evalute wether your site is very open. If it's marginal -- you might consider getting a longer top section. But otherwise, you should be fine.

John Miller,
St. Louis, Mo

P.S. Update your profile from trying to "active!"

[Guest]

JOHN,
THANKS FOR THE INFO. I'M SURE I'LL HAVE MANY MORE QUESTIONS.
I LOOKED @ THE ARCHIVES BUT COULD'NT FIND ANYTHING ON POLE HIEGHT. MARK HARPER

[TreeGreenwood]

Orientation is very important but the height isn't, even if it changes during the nesting season. I've lowere my poles a notch when a severe storm was approaching and the PMs dove right in at the lower level. I also had a telescoping pole jam where I could neither raise nor lower one section (I didn't want to try forcing it due to eggs and then nestlings due to fledge tomorrow). It was less convenient to check but the PMs didn't mind the lower height at all.

Take care,

Tree

[Guest]

TREE,
THANKS FOR THAT INFO. ESPICALLY ABOUT THE THUNDERSTORMS
(i had'nt thought of that ). MARK HARPER

[rickluc]

I'm a newwbie at this location this year. I'm very much tree locked, live on a lake with an established colony across the lake. In fact there is a large tree limb sticking out over my pole. I would say the top of the house is about 8' below the limb. I could only put up my house with a height of 9'6" to the bottom floor on a two story house. My supergourds hang below the house with there entrance holes only 8'2" above the ground. My pair of Martins with 19 day old chicks choose one of the gourds. Go figure!!

While I'm on the subject. I haven't got the three younguns fledged yet, and maybe I am setting up my colony for a devastating disaster someday, but who says you can't have a colony without 50 foot of clearance? I will admit they don't seem to spend any time setting on the perches or top of house like my old colony did out in the country. But maybe they will when the young ones fledge.

Maybe we could discuss this scenario here on the forum.

Thanks for all advice and comments.

PS Forgive the spelling!

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Having trees near your housing is not a good idea, and you probably will have difficulty attracting martins. The further you can stay away from trees the better off you will be.

If you have no other choice, its best to explore all your options, you can try it to see what will happen, but you may not get martins. Also, the hawks and owls may wipe out your colony if the hawks & owls find it...

good luck

[Guest]

THANKS EVERYBOBY FOR ALL THE INFO., I NEEDED IT & MORE.
MARK HARPER