Purple Martin Forum

i Have been using the S & S controller trap and open it up when the starlings begin to nest . It is a magnet for starling's . I have trapped 10 starlings in 1 day. I do have a couple that do hang around the martins trying to get in and usually they give up on resistance entrances and go to the S...

me and the martins don't have to worry about that starling anymore.

me and the martins don't have to worry about that starling anymore.

I did get the staring with a pellet rifle, . it was a lot smaller then others i have seen .i do have a nest box trap that I get a lot of starlings but as this one was small and got in the gourd he probably did not go to the trap,, Glad the starling did not trap a martin. and kill it.

I seen a starling getting in a crescent entrance . The porch is flush with the entrance . I have had this entrance for 10 years . should I change to a modified excluder ? . any suggestion . Thanks.

yes good idea to lower martin housing as there is lots of states with high winds. When i lower my housing it has never bothered them. .

I am wanting to grow some gourds this summer and am looking for some seeds that would grow good size gourds for purple martins . I have 2 racks of nice size gourds i grew years ago and have 32 gourds all full of martins for 13 years. I purchased some seeds last year from a store and the pack said go...

thanks for the info. i did put a board 8 inchs above the entrance so they could not see the sky. it must have helped as i have not had any escape so far,

Hello I built a troyer starling V trap and have had starlings get trapped in this trap but they been escaping through the 2 inch slot that is hanging down at the entrance of the trap . Did i not make this right . anyone know what is possibly is going on that the starlings are escaping . thanks any c...

I had 2 martins arrive two days ago it was warm then rain , later the rain changed to snow . We had 1 inch of snow and had to clean the snow and ice off the porches for the to get out of the starling resistance entrances . They ate some eggs and seemed to be happy 47 degrees tomorrow,

All my gourds have a 1 inch pvc elbow for ventilation . The martins in gourds are almost fledging age. I have even delayed mowing around them as to keep them from getting stressed out from the combination of heat and noise. If they can hang in their the temps will be better Friday.

I have martins sticking there heads out of entrances today as the temperature is 90 and the wind is almost calm . I was thinking of spraying the gourds with cold water but am afraid it will make the humidity worse not sure what to do .

I seen a tree swallow about 4 days ago and today I seen 3 flying around there nest boxes . I have not seen any martins yet . The last few years I had a martin that came a week before the other martins came . This year I have not seen him he was here the 24 th of march last year. The weather has been...

I have a male adult martin that has been trying for days and he still has not been able to go in . is it possible that he is a little bigger. I hate to make the crescent any bigger as I don't want starlings to get in but he tries and tries but still can not get in. The crescent is the size it should...

I am just curious if any one has seen less house sparrows so far this season . The reason I ask is it has been a month and a half and have not seen a one, This is very unusual for me as I put up gourds and it seems that even though I trap and shoot year round that they start trying to nest in my gou...

I put decoys on my gourd racks and it does help as we were expecting high winds and I lowered my gourd racks and was walking back to the house the martins bolted to the air and a hawk was attacking one of the decoys I clapped my hands and he flew off . Then I watched and the hawk came back for a sec...

I have just started to see some yesterday at my colony

That is great news!!!!

A few years back I was teaching my martins to eat flipped crickets I tried several times and the martins would look, but not go for them , It took several or more tries until one finally got the idea of what I was doing ,then the rest fallowed. I then started flipping eggs .then started putting some...

I have noticed that the purple martin catalog does not offer gourd seeds . I planted 3 packs of seeds that I purchased from a farm store and a very small percentage germinated and the ones that did grow were small . When I bought the seeds the package said that they were good for martins . Where is ...