Purple Martin Forum

Doing some work on one of my poles (mounting Decoys for hawks), I found some eggs in two of the Super Gourds. According to my calculations, the first egg was laid on May 25,2016 same date as last year.

With another good Martin season finished, it will be very quite in the back yard with all of the Martins gone. My colony consist of 126 cavities, containing natural gourds, super gourds, horizontal gourds and 4 North Star wooden houses (12 hole each ). This was my fifth year that my colony has fledg...

Hi Jeremy, The band series appears to be one of my birds that I banded on July 9, 2012. The band number of my bird is as follow: 1342-92217 according my records. That year I banded just under 400 birds at my colony just south of Saskatoon. Please give me a call so we can discuss this bird in questio...

I did my first nest check today, found 55 good PM nests at my colony and to my surprise 5 eggs in three of the nests. There is allots of ASY males around and some possible SY males but I still have to confirm before I report it. That is my first nest check report.

Jerry Parent

Hi Art, My suggestion of darkening the interior does make it harder to see in the gourd as Craig indicated. However it is a small price to pay to get Martin to accept these plastic gourds. I found that if you shield you eyes from the sun and get close to access entrance you can see in quite well. I ...

Hi Art, You mention that no Martins occupied your plastic gourds last year. I assume these gourds have white interiors. I had the same problem until I darken the interior with some spray paint designed for plastics. Try some dark colors like black, dark browns, dark green, etc. I believe the Martins...

Hi, To increase interest in your colony, I would try placing (mount) some small MIRRORS around the outside of the house and also placing some nesting material in the nests. This will make the Martin think that your colony is active and this should make it more attractive to the visiting Martins and ...

Hi Lak, I have discussed this topic with many landlords and I have come to a concussion that closer is better than father away. Since I brought my poles closer together the occupancy rate has gone up. I would recommend 10 to 15 feet which has worked very well for me. That is the reason that I used c...

Hi daveh, The crushed rock that I used to hold my poles in place is 1/2" to 3/4" in size. I don't add anything else because I want the drainage for the wooden poles. I have moved some of my wooden treated poles that have been in use for over 10 years and still look as good as new. Our elec...

Hi Matt, What I do is use crushed rock like many power companies use. Depending how tall your pole is determines the hole depth. For a poles 14 to 16 foot tall, I recommend a five foot hole dug with a 8" auger. First place about 12" of crushed in bottom of hole for drainage. Then place you...

Hi daveh, I have four North Stars. I think they are excellent wooden house for Martins. The cavity are nice and deep and tend to remain dry in rainy conditions and are good cold weather houses. My North Stars have very good production rate of over 5 nestlings per occupied cavity. I have had many wit...

My bird bander e-mailed me some very interesting information regarding one of my martin that was banded here at my PM colony just 9 miles south of Saskatoon, SK, Canada. An ASY Male #1222-67872 was captured actively nesting at a colony located 1 mile south of Columbia, South Dokota ( it is alive and...

Hi Dick, I raised an Albino fledging ( pure white with reddish eyes ) last year at my site located just south of Saskatoon, Sask, Canada. However I never saw it this past season at my colony and never heard it being sighted. I had assumed it had perished last winter on it's travel to South America. ...

Hi James, I totally agree. I have been using decoys for the last 8 years. I have found many of my decoys on the ground with numerous marks made by hawks and/or owls. I started using safety lines attached to them so not to lose them in the long grass. Last winter I carved 2 dozen decoys as a winter p...

RLee, Thank for putting in Canada as region. However I still can not post under States any western Canadian provinces. These are from east to west. Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Hopefully you will be able to correct this so that some of us western Canadian landlords can parti...

RLee,

Can not register my colony because the forum will not accept Canadian province under state. Hopefully you can easily fix it so I can input my colony data. If not, please let me know how I can get around the problem without a fix. Thank you,

Jerry Parent

Today the Albino Martin turned 28 days old and I figured it was about time to go. So a little after 10:00 am, I decided to go out and check it out. There it was sitting on the porch testing its wings, so I knew time for lift off was near. After a pep talk it took off with an escort of about a dozen ...

Albino martin nestling is now 20 days old and doing well. It appears normal like it's three siblings except for it's pink eyes and all white feathers. Like it's siblings its now starting to peek out of it's cavity. Here are some of the latest photos of the little bird. Hope it can fledge with the ot...

I resized the pictures and I'll try posting them again. Wish me luck!!!!

Jerry Parent

What a unique sight, an Albino nestling with all the classic features. Pink eyes, pink skin and white feathers. Boy was I excited at seeing it for the first time. It is residing at my colony which is located 9 miles south of Saskatoon, Sask., Canada. The nestling is about 14 days old. I noticed that...