Purple Martin Forum

Wow Steve - I thought we were doing well over here in Clermont (Central Florida) with egg laying starting on March 21st - 10 days ahead of last season! Congrats

Nest building began this morning just west of Orlando, about 11 days earlier than last year. They used up all the pine straw from the bed & breakfast this morning and we've got it re-stocked for tomorrow. The fun begins! Still waiting for male subbies to return, although we've seen several femal...

Thanks guys for all the great advice. There's nothing like a good close up picture to make things perfectly clear. My handy husband and I will give it a try this weekend and see if we can come up with something similar that will work with the extra horizontal Troyers we have. We had a flush of starl...

Could someone please tell me how to attach a few Troyer horizontal gourds below my Trendsetter 12? My 12-gourd rack has become so popular in it's second season that I'm afraid I'll have to put the No Vacancy sign in my central Florida yard soon if I don't add more housing! (Next year I'll expand the...

James - Congrats on reporting the first egg of the season. Hopefully our colony over here in Clermont will be next! I noticed the same feces build up that you mentioned. I even put it out on the forum as I didn't remember them ever being so messy in past seasons. I did a thorough cleaning several we...

Great idea! We're on the map too. No problems once signed in to Gmail. Hope to find locations of other colonies or "wannabees" nearby.

Last Friday night, we witnessed an amazing feat. An ASY male left his compartment just after sunset and flew out low over our lake. He was immediately pursued by a Coopers Hawk and the PM ended up in the lake. Twice, the PM rose up out of the lake and both times, the Coopers knocked him back down in...

Steve - Yes and he takes his boat out on the water and disposes of their bodies!

Thanks John. I always thought Martins preferred to keep their homes pretty tidy. Nests are dry, just mounds of poop especially in the TMC. I had them squeaky clean before adding nest material in January. The gourds (not much activity until now) still look OK. Sounds like you have a good theory. I di...

Unfortunately, numbers are up here in central Florida. In past years we never saw more than two and they quickly moved on. This morning my husband trapped our third (his buddy got scared off) and he says he's beginning to feel like Dexter

Don't know if it's been the cool weather and more time spent in their nests, but their housing sure seems to be a lot dirtier than I remember from previous years. I provide pre-made nests in all 36 of my compartments and those that are already well-used look like they're in need of a nest change eve...

Linda - Glad to hear there's another PM landlord out there that follows OM as well. I've been reading their field reports for the last several years, and now that they have the Crane Cam and the Trike Cam I am a bigger fan than ever before. It sure helps keep me entertained through the off-season un...

This is my fifth year as a PM landlord here in Central Florida. This is not the first year we've had crows around, but this year I watched one grab an ASY off one of my houses and carry him off. Maybe it was a Fish Crow & not the American Crows I'm used to seeing, but I'll never take them lightl...

Thanks for your kind words. I hope you enjoy the pictures I added to show how well he's done.

Louise - They sure are amazing. Both John & I think it was fate that we found him under our neighbor's dock that afternoon and regardless of the outcome, we wouldn't have traded that bonding experience for anything. We just melted when we looked into his beautiful eyes! We added a gourd rack thi...

Check out my update above.

Two mornings in a row now, we've found a fledgling on the ground that can't fly and put him back in his nest. This morning I realized that his wings look skeleton-like but his head & body look normal. He's about 28-29 days old and his only remaining nest mate has successfully fledged. He's still...

Louise - Could you please send us 25 copies? We are planning to have a neighborhood open house as well as our grandson's cub scout group visit once the hatching begins. Thanks! Nancy McCarthy Clermont, FL PS Did you ever receive the private message I sent you just before Christmas? I suggested a sho...

Astrid - Watching the ultralights and cranes land at their destination here in Florida is definitely one experience on my "bucket list". Until I retire and can get over to the west coast of Florida at daybreak for the chance to see them, I'll just have to settle for viewing the great pictu...

Fellow birders - I'm sure most everyone has started counting the days until our Martins show up once again and all the fun begins. In the meantime, check out www.operationmigration.org. That's the organization that leads the young Whooping Cranes with ultralights from Wisconsin to Florida every year...