Purple Martin Forum

Several years ago I had a very similar experience with Starlings killing several of my Martins. I purchased and installed an S & S Controller trap from this site. As I am using natural gourds without the Starling resistant entries, this trap has totally eliminated my Starling problem. I placed i...

Details on my setup:
two 15' poles with 12 gourds each.
no cages or other protection on entrances.
stovepipe baffle on each pole.
Troyer starling trap about 75' away.

Great news ...... at least for now. Got up this morning to see about 12 Martins flying around the colony and coming out of the gourds. I truly hope this means that they were just out for the weekend, same as we were.

My first scouts were reported on Feb 21. Between then and last week, about 24 Martins had arrived and were seemingly at home in my gourds. On Friday (3/11), we left for a weekend with friends in North Ga. On our return on Sunday afternoon, I saw no birds around. Still, no Martins around. This is a f...

Thanks.

I understand that most, if not all, martin feeding is on airborne insects. Prior to nesting activity, I see martins flying quite high, often as high as 100 ft. I assume they are feeding. My question is, what are insects doing way up there? And what insects are they?