Purple Martin Forum

Awesome!! I heard one here the other morning. Can’t believe how loud they can be. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, the wire nest tray is suppose to keep the nest off the floor. Yes, both male and female build the nest. And yes, the male and female both stay in the compartment at night. Sounds like you have a colony of martins. Congratulations. Good luck! Brent

Hi Linda. From my own experience martins select their compartment and stick to it. I mean if you have 3 nests being built I would say it’s 3 different pairs. You stated that you see only one female. I’m wondering if you’ve just missed seeing them. Really puzzling. Again, my experience is that, once ...

We had very windy weather for the last few days and yesterday it rained for most of the day. This morning I chased the owl away at 5:30 and stayed out until sunrise. That damn owl. But the subject of my post is not the owl, it’s my martins behavior today. I went out just to check on them and while o...

Stingray, it is a big problem. The air horn works if you can sound it right when the hawk is attacking. I listen to the martin’s alert and then grab the air horn. Once I see the hawk I sound the air horn. It does work. It interrupts the hawk. Also what has worked is the use of decoys. The hawk will ...

Yes it is scary. Hey C.C., do you have the cage around your housing? I’m very interested in doing something for the next season for sure. Whether it will be a hawk cage or owl cage or both. Rob, you plan on a hawk cage, right? I hope to do something. Had a hawk attack yesterday. It flew in and hit t...

The Great Horned Owl has attacked my martin house on March 14th at 6:41 am. I witnessed it. Scared the heck out of me. Too dark to see if it took a martin but I assume it did. I get up early every morning and since that time it visited 6 more times. It perches on a trellis near the houses and waits ...

Awesome!!! I wish we were neighbors. Just a beautiful place. Great read. Very happy about your arrivals. Lucky Martins, BB and TS to have such a nice place. It’s peace and harmony.

Really Dave? That low? I was always afraid to lower them lower than what I stated but with extreme winds possible tomorrow I might lower them a lot more. Thanks for the information. I’d hate for the houses to be blown down. Brent

I have 16’ poles and keep the houses 2 feet lower because the weather can change instantly. I will lower them an additional 2’ if extreme winds are predicted and they are for tonight and tomorrow. See photos. Might go an additional foot just in case. Brent

That is great news! I had so many migrating martins staying over during the freezing wet weather in mid February. These birds took flipped crickets, meal worms and beetles. I wonder if Buddy was one of them. Heart warming. Thanks for sharing. Brent

Hi Rob and all. These are pictures I took yesterday morning at 6 AM. I was out this morning but I did not see it. It is a huge owl. Dave, thanks for the pictures. Rob, when you get started on yours please keep me informed on how the project developes. Not the best pictures but you can see what is th...

I don’t know how I could do this. Rob, attaching a hub to the top of the pole and then attaching the cage to it allowing the house to be lifted into it would not be feasible for me. The poles are well over 10 feet, maybe 15 or 16. No way I can get up there. Does anyone know where or if they sell hou...

That is awesome. Do you have about 25 gourds, chirpy nests on the pole? How high do you have it? That looks awesome. Happy martins I bet. Have a great season! Brent

I wonder how I can do something like that with the Trendsetter house? I think it’s great!!

Sorry to hear that. I checked mine again today and there were 2 females huddled but they had enough strength to fly off. Yes, better weather ahead. Brent

Awe that’s great!!! I’m getting the B&B and will be ready for them next year. Great news. Inspires me!!! Brent

You just want to hold them. Wishing the best for those beautiful birds. Keep us updated on their progress. Brent

So sorry to hear that. I checked my compartments on Friday afternoon after the freeze was over so that I could remove the hand warmers that I put in the day before and to check for any dead birds. I was so relieved not to find any. Yesterday was a good day. Didn’t check yesterday. Today rain all day...

Nice. I’ll have to get one. It’s the one that’s 209, right? Is it the same as the one sold by PMCA? Flipped dried hydrated meal worms this morning but the rain has gotten worse. Had to come in. I know they’re hungry. If they can hold out until tomorrow. Better days ahead. Brent