Purple Martin Forum

That was my thought also. A SY male.
Thanks

Last nest check I found an egg out of the nesting compartment and laying in the compartment where they enter. It had a hole in it.
Today I found another compartment that had 6 eggs now had five. One appeared to have a hole in it.
I have not sighted any sparrows.
Wassup?

Story in Detroit News

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2014 ... ds-mid-air

Empty compartment. No Hosp either.
Somehow the eggs were lifted out of the gourd. Its a fairly large gourd.
I nest check tomorrow. I am waiting for a few young birds to fledge.

Had 5 eggs in the gourd. Then 3. Then none.
Had a vacant compartment in a house above the gourd. Then 4 eggs appeared. hmm
Eggs are not being attended because I see no incoming or outgoing activity.
What gives here? Can martins lift and move eggs?

Sounds like they are playful birds, and have a little fun.

No I don't think so. They just stuff them in whole.

I'm going with the fun aspect. If they wanted to relocate the bug for swallowing you would think they would drop down to a perch. Besides he did this at least nine times.

I have a playful Martin. He had a Dragon Fly in his mouth and would fly up to about 35 feet and drop the bug. After it dropped about 2 ft he would swoop down and recapture it. He continued to do this over and over. Has anyone else witnessed Drop the Bug?

Plenty of Bugs, 2 Bedroom Suite's, view of Lake St Clair, ON

I still don't know if last years data sheet reached PMCA and was included in last years count. I hopefully e-mailed it but I sent 2 e-mails to Emily confirm receipt and I never received a response. I hope it arrived because I fledged 80 birds

Lake St Clair, Ontario 4/23/11 I have been watching daily for signs that they have arrived. They usually arrive around the 16th of April. I was getting concerned because of the heavy storms hitting the south and southwest. I havn't put up the house yet because there have been several sparrows flying...

I bypassed the soaking of the gourds. It seemed too messy, and copper sulfate was a little high priced. My gourds are in the third year and still looking good. They are well painted and sealed, so I will see how long they last.
The Martins luv em.

Nice idea!
I think it could be shorter though to save on weight.

Read this article
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia ... MMMMG0.htm

Try cutting off the bottom of a 1 gal plastic milk jug. Cut it about 1 inch off the bottom. See how that works. They work fine in my alum houses.

While sitting on the patio this afternoon I witnessed the swarming of dragonflies. There were hundreds of them. I saw some of my young fledgelings flying above them but it didn't seem they were feeding. Although on dragonfly would probably fill them up. I googled dragonfly and found out they are ver...

Nice work u2! Looks like its been a good year all around.

One thing different this year is a fellow martin club member banded about 45 of the fledgelings so next year(hopefully) I can see how many return.

This year was a total success no sparrows no starlings plenty of bugs and great weather. I fledged 90 young. They must like it because about a third of them have been returning every evening. The last fledge was over 2 weeks ago. During the day I can look up and usually spot a few flying. I take a w...

Here is a pic I have handy. Nothing fancy.