Purple Martin Forum

Greetings all, I'm moving in a few months into a new house I'm building on Lake Oconee that's about 1 mile away as a crow flies. I certainly want to have purple martins at my new house, but don't want to leave my colony here with no housing when they return next year. After all birds have left for t...

One more thing: - My cleaning routine consists of removing the old nest, spraying down the inside and outside with a cleaning solution containing bleach, and flushing everything thoroughly with a water hose. The colony is now up to 10 birds with more arriving every day. Birds seem to be happy and he...

Thanks to all that replied. My questions were really unanswerable - unless you're a purple martin! HA!. I was just hoping someone had past experience of what I should expect. More birds have arrived now. If I had to guess I'd say the birds go back to the gourd or house unit they used the year before...

Greetings Fellow Purple Martin Landlords! The first 3 birds arrived at my place this year on 2/20/26. I've been very busy this winter building a new house on Lake Oconee, and didn't have time to clean out the units for this year's colony. My housing consists of a house with 6 - 12" x 6" un...

Thanks for the reply. Barney didn't return at all this year. i believe he and Wilma either died of natural cause on the trek to or from S.America, in S. America or were hawk bait here last year. It was cool having the guy thet started the colony return every year, but I knew it had to end at some po...

I lost my "Buddy" last year. "Barney" was the alpha male of my colony. He and his mate, Wilma, started the colony 8 years ago, and were always the first to arrive. Last year, Barney and Wilma arrived and took up residence in their normal unit - the middle unit facing northeast in...

Greetings Fellow Landlords, It is my experience that hawk attacks are inevitable, but controllable to a certain degree. The cooper's hawk is so fast, there is no time to alert the martins or stop the hawk before the attack is over. I haven't found a way to prevent attacks unless you put a screen com...

tor wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 08, 2025 7:51 pm

I've been looking at SC and NC reports, and they seem to be reporting (same reporter / location) earlier than last year as well. I usually get the first ones around the 22nd of February in NE SC, Marlboro Co. We'll see what happens.

Tor

Have your birds started showing up yet? I'm still waiting.

Greetings PurplePupil (PP), I'll double down on what most repliers have said. This forum is ripe with mentors and advice! If the answer isn't here, then there likely isn't an answer! Being your age I'm sure you can use the forum's topic search feature. The information contained there goes back for m...

Dude, that SUCKS! Especially so early. I'm very sorry to hear about it. Hawk attacks have got to be the worst part of being a landlord. I can deal with sparrows, mites, early jumpers, other predators, and other things that harm our birds. But it seems like there is very little to do to prevent hawk ...

I've got to pick on ya, Buckhead is not north central Ga. killerv - no worries about picking on me! I've got thick skin from working in a chemical production plant and oil rigs in South LA. I'm curious to know, if not north central, where do you consider Buckhead to be located in GA? It's not in th...

Greetings Fellow Landlords! Is it just me or does anyone else think birds are arriving earlier this year than in years past? This was my first time logging on the forum this year and I was shocked at the "scout" sightings! I haven't seen any here, yet, and haven't even cleaned the units. I...

Yes, it's very hard to deal with after all the work we put into getting the little ones to the point of flying off on their own, then to have them "murdered" by one of their own! My wife saw me doing something with the house lowered - I was taking care of the remains..... She knew somethin...

Bad news today in my colony. First, the door to a house unit with 5 chicks inside due to fledge any day had been forced open. One dead chick was stuck in the half open door. The other 4 chicks and the parent birds were gone. I'm thinking an owl or redtail hawk are to blame. I don't think a cooper's ...

Nothing new. Just a gourd with an empty nest.... At this point I don't think that will change before all birds have left for the season.

I haven't seen the visting flock since my last post. The population of ASY birds in my colony has remained the same - only a few SY birds have arrived. So the "visits" remain a mystery for now.

All of the cicadas are now gone. The adults all die after breeding, but before dying the female lays 400 - 600 eggs in holes she dug in tree branches. In a few weeks the eggs hatch and the "nymphs" fall to the ground. They burrow underground and attach to tree roots, then 13 - 17 years lat...

The pair that had occupied the now empty nest have left. I thought they might try to breed and raise their young, but that's not the case. There is just the empty nest and I have not seen any birds entering or exiting in weeks. Brent - Did either pair of birds that originally laid the eggs that disa...

Thanks folks, but eggs have just hatched, so they are nowhere close to fledging. I've seen the fledging parties in the past and this isn't nearly the same thing. It's as though the other colony is either wanting some of my birds to follow them OR they are checking out my housing. Which, by the way, ...

Twice over the past week, a flock of about 20 PM's have circled above my PM housing about 20 minutes before dark. They circle once then head back in the direction they came from - towards another colony of PM's about 2 miles away. I have not seen any interaction between my birds and the flock. Any i...