Purple Martin Forum

I am doing great in SE Kansas. I have 12 and keep increasing 1-3 birds per day. I think it is way too early to start statistics. I had my first hawk attack this morning and we are in town. At this time, i don't know if he got one or not...Our temps haven't stayed consistently warm either. We've had ...

Put some bread in the HOSP trap and a little bird seed on top..they love that or just put a little nesting material in the trap and in they go...KABAM. I trapped 12 the first day and only see one lone male now.

Chris: Don't give up the SREH - those are the best things ever invented. My martins use them just fine and I no longer have to worry about those dang starlings. I trapped 12 house sparrows and 1 dumb starling in 3 hrs Thurs. If you had Martins last year, they will figure out the SREH and use them. J...

Tim: I love your set-up - that looks so easy to just crank away. Would it be too forward to ask to watch when you do the banding? I would love to see that done. We actually manage to sites. One at our house with 12 gourds and another 12 at Riverside Park in Iola. I don't know anything about banding ...

Could you ask your neighbor for some tips? When you say "Brown birds" are you referring to sparrows? You have to get rid of them. I trapped 12 today (not exaggerating) they can take over your colony. Read everything you can and look at other sites. This forum is a great place to start.

Tim: Where did you use to live? It looks like your colony was huge. Did you just leave it for someone else to take over or take it completely down? Living in town, I can't have mine get too big, but we usually fledge between 55-65. Last year was a good year, we had no dead ones.

Mine were 2 days later than last year, which is fine with me, as it's suppose to get cold and wet tomorrow. I've caught 12 sparrows today.

The Martins have arrived in SE Kansas - I have gourds up and added a new pole with a dozen homemade gourds at our city park. I got it up a little late last year, but the first pole down there was so full that they needed more housing, so hopefully this will alleviate some overcrowding. Now if it wil...

I am also in SE Kansas and have had several show up in the past few days. I started another gourd rack at a recreational park, due to the one down there being full, and had 3 subbies on it this morning. They are out there, just slower this year, probably due to the cold temps. We still had frost her...

I think it also depends on where you live. If you live in TX they may cure a lot quicker, whereas if you live in NY. I live in KS and have grown gourds for years. In fact, I had a full size pick-up bed full of them. I took them to a grain bin and just left them for a year. They turned moldy and look...

This heatwave has just been too much, for too many days. I have lost 9 babies out of 35. I have natural gourds, all painted white, no parasite problems, but when it's 109 in the shade...you just have to expect some of them not to make it. I expect all the nest will be empty this week, which will be ...

OMG...I noticed that too..I don't even have my gourds out of garage yet. I better get in gear, but it's suppose to snow again too. Better get my bugs ordered too.

9" here in SE Kansas...it's freezing out too. I have crickets, but no martins staying here yet. They've visited ,but glad they are holed up elsewhere.

First day of spring and almost a foot of snow. I had 3 martins yesterday, but did not spend the night, so I hope they are holed up with others conserving heat. I have 1000 crickets, if they stay here. I had 12 robins, 9 finches gathered around bird feeder. It is so horrible outside, but living in ka...

I love this web cam, but mom needs to move her rear so i can see. Go outside and bother her....just kidding.

Just to touch on the SREH...I have all 36 of my gourd entrances with SREH. My martins have started laying eggs are in different phases of nesting. While watching TV I noticed from the window a fairly large bird on one of the porches. I got the binoculars and it was a starling. He tried to enter and ...

I have an established colony and only use SREH on homemade gourds. They will either use them or move on...I had round holes for many years, and it is aggravating to spend so much time and money to raise a sparrow or starling. I had one slow learner martin that sat on the porch for several weeks, but...

I have not had any SY arrive, which last year they arrived on May 5th. I have 18 ASY and 8 nests, but it rains and rains and rains. I had to drill bigger drain holes in my homemade gourds. It's nice to hear they are still in flight, so maybe it won't be too long, but they may need a canoe to get her...

They will be back...my poles have been down for 4 days now and they don't seem to mind. The severe weather that has been rolling through every other day is too much to put them up and take them down. It is just safer for now to leave them half way down.

You can buy your own live traps at places like Orschleins or Farm/feed stores. Once you catch the cat it would be up to you on what you want to do with them. My neighbor feels sorry for every stray that comes around and has 9 cats. They roam the neighborhood catching birds, squirrels and leaving sme...