Purple Martin Forum

A snake might be the cause of disappearance. but also sub adult males. They will carry out very small young, and eggs, and sometimes one will harass a female so much that she cannot feed and some babies may starve. If a sub male is preventing a female from entering, you might be able to observe thi...

A snake might be the cause of disappearance. but also sub adult males. They will carry out very small young, and eggs, and sometimes one will harass a female so much that she cannot feed and some babies may starve. If a sub male is preventing a female from entering, you might be able to observe thi...

Hello my purple friends I have a disturbing problem. I have 3 gourds where babies have been found dead under a live baby. I’m thinking maybe the parents quit the nest. If the parents have quit the nest I’m wondering why. I have been told that purple Martins are unpredictable and that sometimes thing...

don't worry about what you shoot just kill them when you get the chance ive trapped the females first many times then I got the male after that So the male will become enraged at losing the nest and eggs but the female going missing won’t cause this behavior? Ok! I almost had one of the them y ster...

Ok I have read on here that if you shoot the female the male will seek revenge on your Martins. Is this true? Sometimes I get a shot on one of them in the air but I can’t tell if it’s the male or female? What if I shoot the male first? Will the female seek revenge too.

The chances of a purple Martin or any other bird for that matter even be able to land on the porch of a sparrow nest cavity with eggs in it are very slim As we all know the male house sparrow is a very fierce defender of his nest!! That is a very good point my issue would be that whenever I walk ou...

Ok I saw a post on this thread stating you never should have let the sparrows get this far in their nesting. So what should a correct response have been when a person first notices a sparrow trying to start a nest? If your sparrows are too smart to get trapped or shot. Should you just tear out the n...

Sticky traps work just great as long as you're smart enough to use them correctly . Main thing is you want to downsize your entrance hole so the Martin's can't get in and you watch it like a hawk if you can't stay there and watch it till it's all over do not try this method . What are the sure thin...

For those of you who are not a great shot with a .22. I would suggest using a 22 with rat shot in it. It’s pretty accurate at like 20 to 25 yards. And as far as the neighbors it’s not very loud at all. And the shot spreads out like a tiny shot gun. So if you’re not a very accurate shot its ok becau...

For those of you who are not a great shot with a .22. I would suggest using a 22 with rat shot in it. It’s pretty accurate at like 20 to 25 yards. And as far as the neighbors it’s not very loud at all. And the shot spreads out like a tiny shot gun. So if you’re not a very accurate shot its ok becau...

That pool noodle idea is a very good one! Have to be very quiet not too spook the Martins at nighttime. I have a T14. Last year only had 13 pair because I let sparrows have one cavity, to keep from having “Sparrow Revenge”. I used the egg hole method and all 13 pair fledged babies. This year I open...

I have a couple of sparrows building in a gourd. I have been tearing it out everyday, but I feel like that is too much raising and lowering of the rack for my Martins. Any thoughts?

Well I got home from the firehall this morning and to my surprise. There was a adult male and female sitting on the gourd racks and a subadult male flying over head. I sure hope they are looking for a nice place to live. I saw a couple this afternoon while mowing I hope its the same ones and they s...

I have only heard of a couple times when a startling entered that entrance, it is probably the best entrance on the market, so shoot or trap the undersized starling. Early in the season, some starlings are very small. THANKYOU my friend I will try. He had a very hard time getting into the tunnel ac...

I have one of the fast hawks lurking about in the evening. The other eve the damn hawk got an ASY male in flight. I have a shotgun handy now. I have also had to clean out a gourd with course material which signals a starling has voilated the SREH entrances again. I didn’t see anything about shootin...

Hey Jack very interesting ,I know what you mean about the small personal connections . I am able to connect with one bird in particular This season. An ASY male arrived here about three weeks ago with no tail feathers . The banding of the birds sounds very interesting. How does one go about getting...

I have only heard of a couple times when a startling entered that entrance, it is probably the best entrance on the market, so shoot or trap the undersized starling. Early in the season, some starlings are very small. THANKYOU my friend I will try. He had a very hard time getting into the tunnel ac...

James, I wouldn't be overly concerned since some Starlings that are runt or a little underfed can breach most any SREH if the Starling is determined enough. We all need to keep in mind that SREH is (Starling Resistant Entrance Hole) not Starling Proof otherwise they would be labeled SPEH (Starling ...

Help what do i do? Will the starling give me a shot at him while he is building or be Wiley like sparrows? What if I slide the porch out of the clinger porch slide and super glue it to the top of the slide? Has anyone tried this strategy? This would reduce the clinger entrance by the width of the p...

Help what do i do? Will the starling give me a shot at him while he is building or be Wiley like sparrows?