Purple Martin Forum

I would say a raccoon or 2. Sounds like work they do.

Spiderman wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 27, 2021 6:56 pm

Regardless of how the Martins and Kingbirds interact, you want him around.

When the Coopers Hawk come he will meet him head on and defend his territory. They will save many Martins lives.

That is the smartest post i have read. Thank you for seeing the king bird for what he is. A warrior.

I have a couple around every year. They flex those muscles a bit then they move on. Happens every year.

Yep Pam will work. I’ve used glue traps a lot. Ive waited for the HS to build a nest and lay eggs. It’s never failed and have yet to have a martin to try to go inside an occupied (nest stuffed) HS cavity. But I guess it’s not impossible. Being able to make the hole smaller once the nest is HS occup...

I know some frown at having a bird feeder near a martin colony but i have had many hawks come thru my yard and always they prey on the yard birds. I have had martins for 4yrs now and i have seen only 1 cooper hawk land on my martin pole and that was way after the martins have fledged. I live way bac...

You have a sad situation. Pet owners who are not respectful of other peoples rights. Only thing you can do is keep your pole guards up and for sure watch for that cat when fledge time comes. That is when a cat will kill the young. Pets have more rights than wildlife sad to say.

Where did you determine where to start a colony in your pic?

Chicken man, I would put it in the upper right side by your house as one member said you would be able to see what is going on with predators more and you get to see them also and hear them more. They would fill more at ease around people . Pretty place! Good luck.

These? A hail storm hit mine and broke as shown in picture. I have never liked them because they are drilled for cotter key and are weak.

Yes indeed the martins will move on but i could not have the heart to hang around and see them return to nothing. Better some meet a end on the road than all go looking for another site. 2 Korean war vets have given up their sites which they had for over 30 yrs. One died of cancer and the other is i...

Had the tri poles up for 3 yrs. Never had any issues with them. If you hang heavy plastic gourds on them then you just might have issues with them but not cured original grown gourds which are lighter than plastic gourds. That is what i run and am satisfied with the tri pole. Each his/her own. Had t...

I use the S&K Tri Pole on 2 of my 6 gourds. I tried the plastic gourds you mentioned on the same 2 tri poles a year earlier. The martins would land on the porches that i had attached and look in. They never did take to the gourds. This past winter i grew my own gourds and painted them and this i...

It is 4FT at the top. Pus i have netting over top of the guard. Next year i am going to raise it up a bit higher.

If they are something like the heath gourds that lets in sun thru the gourd then yes it probably was excess heat. I have the same situation with my babies but they are hanging on i think on count of extra thick walls that i have that are home grown. My babies hang there heads out most of the day.

Tried to post pic but JPG to big.

Have several pics i would like to share. I have saved my colony many times over from this coon.

Yes Martins are a rowdy bunch. Yesterday i observed a female SY feed her remaining baby a dragon fly . They both went inside the gourd. In the mean time a floater martin came to the gourd just as the parent was leaving and slipped in and came out with the dragon fly stolen from the baby and went to ...

I had one do the same thing a few days ago. I got a extra gourd and attached it to the pole about half way up which was about 8 feet off the ground. I put him in the gourd using a step latter. He was gone by late evening. i saw the parents feeding him.