Purple Martin Forum

Today I looked up and saw a rather large object several hundred feet high with several smaller objects flying all around it. I reached for my binoculars, and it turned out to be a red tailed hawk being harassed by four purple martins. It reminded me of a scene from Twelve O'Clock High. The hawk cont...

when I crank my t-14 houses up and down I try to stay under the open space were the corners intersect. I do to. I also use an electric drill with an extension to get a little farther away. My main concern really is other people (grand kids, visitors, workers, etc.) who may not be aware of the danger.

Sir: Try http:/purplemartin.org/update/14(1)T-14pole.pdf. This is a plan I plan to install after season is over. But anything to slow the fall would be of help. I jist like the idea of an offset winch. Lots of luck. Hubert I tried the link, but got an error message that the file could not be locate...

I'm wondering what safety precautions landlords have implemented to reduce the danger of a heavy house falling. My concern is to minimize dangers to both myself and anyone else who might be in the area. I had thought about installing a safety bolt above head height, but I was afraid that drilling a ...

It looks like several of us in Alabama and Mississippi have noticed similar behavior with the recent unusually cool and cloudy weather. It has been cold and cloudy by our standards for early May, but nothing compared to what our neighbors in the Midwest have gone through. It makes me wonder just how...

My pair has been setting since about April 23, with the female staying on the eggs almost all the time. By my calculation they are due to hatch in the next couple of days. But today they both left their six eggs about 9:00 this morning and stayed completely away all day. It has been pretty cold and ...

Charles, Watch the slide show on top of the page and you'll see the THG rack. http://www.purplemartinlandlordsofnorthtexas.com/membersphotoalbum.html Thanks. Image 22 showed what looks like a PMCA guard supported by a bracket attached to the gourd plus two bars attached to the porch assembly. That ...

Have you posted pictures of your site? Some of the people here might be able to give you some suggestions on making your site more inviting.

I have been looking for a way to make an owl guard to attach to a Troyer horizontal gourd. I recall some discussion about this a few years ago, but don't remember seeing any details. My gourds are mounted pretty rigidly under a T-14 house. I want it to attach quickly, so I could attach it after the ...

I loved your story on the Eastern Phoebe. Thanks. Phoebes are my second most favorite birds. Here are a picture of the nests on the fan and a picture of the babies a few days later. http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz159/FarmerCharlie/web/Phoebe/P6210011_800w_zpsb1296781.jpg http://i823.photobuck...

I tried photobucket that Deb A recommended but still not able to post. Hopefully soon I will be successful with this. Try this: While looking at your images in PhotoBucket, hover your cursor over an image, and note the little gear-shaped icon that appears on the top right of the image. Move the cur...

I have a single adult pair that I believe has decided to stay. But they can't seem to make up their minds just which gourd they prefer--sleeping some nights in one gourd and other nights in the adjacent gourd. That part I was used to. But now they have started making nests in both gourds. Sometimes ...

Charles I noticed you are using a rope and pulley to raise your T-14. Yours is the first one that I have ever seen. Is that safe with the weight of that house? You raise a good point. The house is indeed heavy, and I avoid ever being directly under it. The support is not rope, but is steel cable at...

I added a closed box that fills the space between the four boxes. The box rides up and down the pole with the house.

If you do use white noise, please keep us posted as to the outcome. For now I am setting it to start at dusk and end 30 minutes before dawn. Any results I post will just be anecdotal. It would be possible to setup a controlled experiment, but that would be a pretty complex study. In the meantime I'...

I think snakes find food by sensing heat through their tongues. They have been observed climbing poles in daylight. I thought white noise was for owls, never heard of anyone using it for snakes. Have you thought about guard hooked to charger? Snakes do sense infrared heat, which is extremely effect...

After a rat snake killed my only pair back in 2011, I am revisiting predator protection. http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19989&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0 I went all last year with just a few temporary visitors, but this year I finally have a resident adult pa...

Unfortuneately the video is not available yet but should be at a later time because it it so new. KTBS 3 Arkla-tex-Best segment with Rick Rowe http://www.ktbs.com/news/Ark-La-Tex-Best-Purple-Martins/-/144844/19556602/-/4be0gxz/-/index.html I could't access the article at the above URL. I did a sear...

For several years I had a single pair that raised several broods. But they and their last brood were killed in 2011 by a rat snake that somehow got past my predator guard. Last year I only had a few transient visitors, and it looked like this year was headed in the same direction, with one or two ad...

I'm not sure that would be legal. But even if it were, it would be pretty tricky to do. To get a shock you have to contact both a hot wire and a ground simultaneously such that the current can pass through the body from one contact to the other. Birds can perch on high voltage lines with impunity--s...