Purple Martin Forum

Louisiana made the 2022 arrival map today. Mark Champagne's arrival date is not significantly different from his psst years reports. This is only about 40 miles from me so eyes to the sky for sure! https://www.purplemartin.org/research/s ... Houma&S=LA

Hi Guy, that was a good rebound for sure. I believe many of the younger ASY's and SY's that may not have had a chance securing a cavity at our places containing older birds dominating the colonies, got an oppournity last year due to their slightly later arrival after the weather event. I am hoping t...

South Louisiana Colonies - 2021 Polar Vortex Recovery Comparisons Thirty-six of my earliest arrivals up to the polar vortex last February perished in that event. Many more ASY and SY birds however followed in the weeks thereafter almost filling my 64 cavity colony to normal levels. I'm in Gonzales ...

Hi friends! Thirty-six of my earliest arrivals last year before the polar vortex in February perished in that event. Many more ASY birds followed in the weeks thereafter almost filling my colony to normal levels. I do expect plenty of martins this year but the first to arrive will undoubtedly be you...

Hi David and good to hear from a nearby fellow martineer! I will definitely check out your other post and images. Lane

Hi folks and Happy New Year! Getting ready for the 2020 Martin season at my site and as usual, getting anxious! January 26 is the nominal return date of my first birds so it's getting close. All 64 gourds are clean, pre-loaded and ready to host guests. Cleaning my plastic gourds this year was easier...

The same exact date as last year my first martin returned today. I noticed the lone ASY male circling overhead feeding late this afternoon. He made several low passes a few minutes later checking out the racks then on about pass number four landed going immediately inside a Troyer Vertical gourd wit...

Great work Guy and Yvonne I hope you fill your site up with birds soon! Guy do you have more gourds now or mainly housing?

Got our first one this afternoon in Gonzales! ASY male. Can't wait for the other 123 or so to trickle in over the next several weeks.

Anxiously awaiting that first flash of purple any day now in Gonzales!

Snakes are everywhere and thus I think we can group ourselves into four distinct "snake predation" martin landlord categories; 1) those that have experienced snake attacks, 2) those that will, 3) those that have but don't know they have and, 4) those that have had (or will have) attempts t...

Connie, our first showed up on Jan 27 and we are now up to about a dozen. Being conditioned to accept supplemental feeding they have pretty much declined every time I went out to fling food to them. It's my experience they only take the food after about three consecutive days of no natural source av...

This is pretty neat: http://hint.fm/wind/ The map shows direction and intensity of wind for North America in real time. Among other things, it's thought that birds generally wait to migrate with favorable winds. Using this map, a landlord might expect some birds to arrive on days with south winds. ...

Congrats on your "early bird". You are about 30 miles west of me (Paulina), so I am keeping a lookout for my first arrival. This weather we are expecting today and tomorrow (Tuesday and Wednesday) has me worried sick. Especially after their long journey, they are really tired and hungry. ...

Thanks everyone! We have two males this morning and they appear strong and healthy. They are not at all interested in catching any tossed food this morning even though it's 30 deg, windy and drizzling. Tomorrow they may have a different outlook. I have been successfully offering my colony supplement...

John, My first returning bird(s) are usually in January and I agree with your assessment. Seems they always arrive just behind or between fronts. My first 2014 arrival was today, the 27th of January. The weather the next two days here in South Louisiana is forecast to be below freezing with freezing...

One ASY male was sitting on a gourd entrance porch when I arrived home at 4:45PM today. Seems he was watching for me, haha! He was 6 days later than my 2011 and 2012 first bird. This fella was #81 reported in the Country this year and #8 in Louisiana on the PMCA scout arrival map. Last year my first...

Scott, I hate to read this and can appreciate that it was a very difficult decision for you to make. Your quality setup being utilized for it's intended purpose rather than being stored or destroyed will make a huge difference for hundreds of martins. Hoping and praying that you will be back to wher...

Steve, Bob, I just wrote and submitted an inquiry to Lowes Corporate headquarters expressing my disgust over the incident. I requested that a responsible member of their executive management reply and let me know how they plan in the future to prove to customers that they are a wildlife friendly and...

Conrad Baker wrote:I think you are only about 20 miles West of me.

Yes, we are located fairly close to one another. I'm a bit East of Gonzales so that puts me almost North of you.

Good luck with the cold spell. I hope our birds see sun tomorrow.