Purple Martin Forum

For those that really want to take the red pill about Martin feeding - including altitudes, check this out:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4926167/

Ginny Pres wrote: ↑

Fri May 23, 2025 12:54 pm

Maybe they made a better front before they went out of business?

They did offer crescent fronts, so be on the lookout for those.

That is a Natureline gourd. They were made by a company called Plasticraft. The are unfortunately no longer produced, so finding replacement entrances for them may be tricky. Based on the size of the openings on the Naturelines once you pop the entrances out, I've wondered if these would work on the...

Here's a camera mounting solution I found and used some years back.
It allows the camera to be mounted a little farther away from the nesting area, providing a wider field of view:
https://eplumer.blogspot.com/2016/06/pu ... amera.html

Awesome looking setup Ronny!
It's always extra cool seeing custom fabricated setups like that.

Oceangirl wrote: ↑

Thu May 08, 2025 9:42 am

Hello everyone!
Thanks for your replies. Here's a picture of our home with the homemade guard (bonus: purple martins, included!)

Great photo and great looking guard!
Those look like happy Martins

You're most welcome
The down side to the grease is that it has been reported to not be very effective, and worse if a squirrel or raccoon gets enough grease on them, it can make them sick and potentially kill them.

Squirrels will indeed eat the eggs and/or babies if given the chance (which is both gross and maddening they would do that - but they would). The absolute best thing is to place one of the stovepipe-style guards on your pole like these: For round poles: https://www.purplemartin.org/shop/53/round-pol...

Bird Brain - I agree with you 100%. Though there are a lot of people that are lucky enough to start colonies right off with all SREH entrances, however there are some that were not able to get any takers until they first offered some round holes. I don't understand why some people feel the need to d...

Good job on catching that entrapment quickly enough that the one trapped inside was saved. All too often when folks discover a blocked entrance like that, they'll also horribly find one or two others deceased inside. All commercially available housing with any type of SREH should be equipped with so...

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Ours have not arrived yet (Summerton SC, 40 compartments), they have usually been here by the first week of March. I opened up the house late Feb. and have had woodpecker attacks trying to enlarge the openings, so very frustrating. Have seen a few flying around, so hope they show up soon! One curio...

S&K over the years has been really responsive to implementing product changes and improvements. That said, it would be great if they would implement some type change to their three house models with attic compartments, that would allow for easy access to those compartments.

Hi MKaye, You should be good. I'm (attempting) to attach a photo of a setup I erected some years back, that consisted of two modified Trios and 4 gourds. I too was a bit concerned that I had overloaded it a bit, but it was fine. Admittedly, I did not raise it all the way. The height the housing is i...

Stellar work Tom!
Those modified Excluder plates look really good on that house.

Cindy you are an absolute superstar!
Truly great work.
This has been a really great story that no doubt a lot were following.
Tom is awesome also.
He is a major asset to the Purple Martin community (and to the Purple Martins themselves!)

Tom - I'm like you, stuck in the suburbs.
Due to potential consequences of shooting pellet guns, I have to make sure I'm within as close proximity as possible to the house sparrow or starling before going kinetic.

Aluminum post - let sleeping dogs lie.
Aluminum unlike steel does not do well with bending back.
Like Flyin-Lowe alluded to - unless it's getting hung up during raising or lowering due to the bend, best to leave it alone.

Nice work discovering and monitoring that little one.
I think the acid test will be when larger ones fledge, if the parents continue to adequately stay and care for the little one.

Great report Tom!
Reading your post is a reminder that hosting and managing Martins is not for faint of heart!