Purple Martin Forum

Does anyone here have an email for Trendsetter? I have some questions about their crossarm systems. Thanks!

Mine left so suddenly this year, I was convinced a predator had somehow gotten them. I have an old pole and house, so I haven’t checked the nests yet. The setup came with the house I bought last year. As soon as all migration has passed, I am putting up a fully equipped house with big compartments a...

New landlord here — moved to a retirement home last spring that had a rundown Heath on the property. Some acquaintances helped me get it down and cleaned. We put it back up, knowing nothing about martins. Martins came around the second week of April, but it was a bad year for me, settling into a new...

How beautiful! Will he survive? Will his eyesight be compromised?

Thanks, Ed. I have to say, I have found it a daunting responsibility. I knew nothing of martins when I bought the house. But having learned what they are, I feel a moral obligation to look after them. The previous owners just stuck the house up and left it unattended for 20 years. My next door neigh...

Thanks for your candid view. I can afford to fully upgrade.

Thanks to everyone who helped me get started for the 2020 Martin season. I did not realize the awesome responsibility that came with the martin house. I’ve struggled some, but it seems to be working out. The martins were late arriving this year, which caused me a little panic. But they seem well-est...

Newbie here, learning a lot. Question — what is egg dumping? TIA!

Trouble in paradise! I saw a black snake slithering across the patio late this afternoon. I had one last year — scared the remodeling crew to death as he curled around their lumber pile. Today he was headed in the general direction of the Martin pole. My BIL was visiting, and he made a temporary bar...

Wow, and today I have even more martins!! It’s as if they just arrived very late. We are in the Blue Ridge so maybe they arrive later here. I watched one of the males pick up a twig this morning from the yard, and carry it up to his compartment. It was so big he had to fight a little to get it up th...

That was truly inspiring. Thank you.

I definitely have martins!!!! At least adult males and two females this morning without a doubt. I watched them off and on all day yesterday, 95% certain, but this morning they are all out sunning themselves together. We have had three days in a row of clouds and rain which makes ID challenging. But...

No yellow beaks, for sure! These new guys are pretty big birds — maybe bigger than the tree swallows. One of them, the one I believe is a female Martin — sat in a compartment facing my deck for a good while this morning while a darker, glossy bird perched just beyond her door, protectively, I though...

You guys are wonderful! It isn’t horn-tooting, it is inspirational. Thanks for sharing. Perhaps more will chime in.

Thanks for your insight. I doubt I can get a decent picture due to the distance but I will give it a shot with my trusty iPhone. I watch the birds through a monocular or a short telescope from my upper deck about 50 yards away I am 100% certain I have at least three tree swallows, and I believe four...

Thanks again to everyone who gave me guidance on my martin house earlier this year. For those who don’t remember, I am a lady in my 60s who moved into a lakefront house last spring that had an existing but dilapidated Heath house. Many dark birds moved in, and I assume they were martins. They did ch...

So the birds yesterday didn’t return last night, nor this morning. When they were here, there were 3-4 on the martin house at all times, with what looked like more swooping over the lake. I am 90% sure, having looked at all the pics, that they were tree swallows. Sounds like it was weird to see them...

Thank you both so much. It is almost 4PM here now. Maybe I worried for no reason. The swallows seem to have all left around 2PM. Could they have been stopping over en route to another nesting site? I really do hope I had martins, and that they will return. I am racking my brain what sound they made....

Some of you may recall I posted in February for advice because I’d bought a retirement home with a very shabby martin house. Shortly after I moved in early March 2019, a flock of cheerful birds took up residence. A visiting veterinarian glanced out the window and said, yes, they were martins. My nep...