Purple Martin Forum

Hi Dan,
Boy when they are in fighting mode, not much bothers them does it?
Could go either way i think, males or females fighting...if I had to guess...males. those subadults are just full of vinegar!

Willie pete, Do you mean the ground elevator trap? The Wire one? Or the S&S controller trap? Iv caught about 2 starlings in ground repeating wire traps over the years and iv got 2 going during the season. Good for sparrows, not so much starlings. S&S controller is expensive but will get them...

This is interesting, we see squirrels as cute and harmess. Last year we saw one climb a pole, run to a ledge and grab a baby dove right from the nest. It was a big baby too! Poor thing.

Well its almost unavoidable. They poop where they will, and so too when the chicks poop, adults carry it out and drop it. Should be a secondary or tertiary consideration really. Iv an 18 unit GR in the front yard, I park about 30 feet from it, even with that many birds, I don't collect much poop on ...

PMCA sells them.

Its inexperience. Its their first time nesting, so I'd imagine they are very surprised when the eggs arrive.

They don't know yet to stay around the cavity more when eggs are present, nor with chicks.

You could carefully add just a bit of material between the eggs and gourd wall.

Why not? Give it a shot!

Sorry to hear that! Its a terrible thing. Suggest (if you have not done it already), remove the dead one, and eggs. Re nest. Guess the first question is did the sparrow nest have eggs when it was removed? If so, there may be your culprit. If not, then its almost impossible to determine, may be a bou...

So I need some input. A Little background. I have been in the Martin world for years. I moved from my last home on the water and left my martin house with the new owners. The colony was wonderful and grew very large. Since this time I find myself back on the water a little further north in Harrison...

Freeze them sir, freeze those superwoms for a while. Like a day.

They crawl, climb and can bite hard. They are tough buggers.

No. Too small. I flip superworms, like a mealworm but 2 inches long.
Meal worms are good for platter feeding.

Well that should do the job. Just kind of hold it close to the spoon part, give it just about an inch. Try flipping stuff for practice, small pebbles maybe vs wasting crickets...not at the martins or in the house of course.

I don't have a website to buy them, just DQ.

Unk Bond wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 12:06 pm

Hello
Got my crickets from [ 5 point cricket farm [ Later Unk

They may have been dried before you got them, shouldn'tbe dessicated like that. Think ur right, wont be flipping those.

Hello from Texas! I'm sorry for your loss, and am heartened by your ability and desire to carry forward the colony. Im sure he is very happy. I know I would be.
Tom

Oh boy, well ours are plump. Legs fall off but rest is ok.

Where did you get them from?

I'm in corpus too. I'm off rodd field past Saratoga. Sounds like migrant behavior, stall for a bit and go on. About when do you normally get your birds? Are you offering a house or gourds? Were your last year birds adults or sub adults? And about how many pair a year? It will help us pick at the pro...

Good stuff. They are masters, false trips lead to not believing theres a hosp in there and out they go! Try a mesh laundry bag, put the trap in it and open it from inside the bag, collapse the bag, get the trap out and whack em. Iv 7 hosp in my 2 ground traps in back, caught just one a week ago havn...

Good post! And good traps, both of them. this will be helpful to folks with aim issues and who prefer that art touch. Traps are a wonderful thing, quiet, effective and will take down a pair. Especially when one sees the other in the ground trap! I was just jimmying one of those universal sparrow tra...

Its a tough one, gradual decline, predators and the oldest keep trying to return until none are left alive.

I wouldn't. Leave them be. If you get subadults, they need a place. Just my opinion.