Purple Martin Forum

Man , terry and Tom.. very sorry to hear this… those are hard to witness and deal with.. tough deal..
Rob

Agree with Brent and Tom.. those traps may need a slight adjustment… I had to do the something similar to what Brent did.. also, I did bend the trigger arm slightly so it wouldn’t trigger so easily… if you bend it too much and the trigger is too stiff, then you can bend it back slightly.. keep adjus...

Congrats on a great season Conrad. In Laplace here, similar situation. All have fledged but still coming back to sleep at night. They usually depart for the roost , here, in early July. I usually keep my houses up til Aug 1 just to help out any migrators.. good luck..
Rob

Those are some great shots yourself Tom… that is a great picture! I took a screenshot of it to download and frame it later!
Rob

That is a great season Tom… very good one here too.. no issues, except for 1 egg and 1 chick missing, due to SY… as you say, I’ll gladly take that every year, if that’s all that happens..
Rob

Lol… I think that’s most of us, Tom!
Rob

Yes indeed! Congrats on a great season… you’re definitely helping these awesome birds grow their numbers..
Rob

Tom, I hope he will adjust and be ok… it’s hard to see them, with something wrong like that…
Good luck,
Rob

3 days ago, I started spotting a male HOSP, coming to my site, doing the mate call, and investigating a compartment still being used, at night, by a Martin family that fledged, 5 days ago. The other martins would harass and chase him off, but he stubbornly kept coming back, as they always do.. His h...

Maybe it’s possible the martins were eating insects that were eating the corn? Very interesting for sure…
Rob

Agree with the others.. sounds like a predator problem.. the others mentioned snakes as a possibility.. do you have hawks or owls around?
Best of luck,
Rob

Can’t say I’ve heard of a more successful start, sir! Excellent job! Sounds like you’ve been at this for years ! Congrats and enjoy your new loyal friends… they will be back every year to give you hours of enjoyment… especially if you keep up the great care you’ve started with…
Rob

Agree Thomas, at this point , I would try shooting it, first.. a blind of some type… anything to hide in or behind , so the HOSP can’t see you, works. The main thing is to have something to stabilize your barrel on, for accuracy… just fyi… I made my blind by ripping fence pickets, lengthwise, into 3...

So true Tom! Great shot off the fence post! They are usually so frieking sneaky and skittish… but definitely get a little careless when they’re trying to take over a cavity, fighting off angry martins… they eventually need to take a break… that’s when they land, to rest……. resting for a bit, and car...

Totally agree Tom… I took early retirement 2 years ago… definitely gives more time to care for and enjoy our martins.. but it’s not good for HOSPS! I have more time to sit in the blind and wait for them.. it’s been a bit of a rough ride for those pesky HOSPS since I retired!!!.. I shot another aggre...

That is a hard loss… very sorry to hear this.. 4 feet.. one more can you do…
Best of luck for the future..
Rob

Wish we had tree swallows down here in Louisiana too! Great warning system! But the grackles and crows help out with the hawk deterrents here..
Rob

Yep, I guess they use what’s available and what they’re used to. Plenty of crepe myrtles around here, and my martins don’t use them either.. strictly oak and chewed off pieces of maple leaves…
Rob

Hi Thomas.. I currently am using rope pulley systems.. they work fine, but I notice as I add more gourds, and they get filled with martins and their babies, they are starting to get a bit heavy. I plan to change them out to winches and cables in the off-season, but the rope/pulleys work well… you ca...

Glad it worked! Good job!
Rob