Purple Martin Forum

Awesome Tom! So great they remembered and took crickets right away.. amazing! Mine were late arriving too. I’m wondering if they’re learning to come a little later, after the hard freezes they’ve gone through the last 3 years..
Best for a great season!
Rob

Awesome! Congrats on your arrivals!

Congrats Conrad and Brent! Had my first arrival this morning. Single male..
Good luck
Rob

Congrats. Agree ! The martins do like the horizontals! Had my first arrival this morning!
Good luck
Rob

A single male Martin showed up this morning about 7 am… great to see him, and hear that one and only chirping again!
Rob

Congrats mike! Hoping they hold off here for another week or so! Too cold..
Good luck!

Here’s a photo of my ceramic reptile heater setup. I wired a dimmer switch , that sits at the bottom of the pole, inside the plastic container to keep it dry. I use a 60 watt emitter and the dimmer switch allows me to adjust the heat. The scrap flashing metal mesh keeps the emitter from making direc...

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Here’s a photo of my ceramic reptile heater setup. I wired a dimmer switch , that sits at the bottom of the pole, inside the plastic container to keep it dry. I use a 60 watt emitter and the dimmer switch allows me to adjust the heat. The scrap flashing metal mesh keeps the emitter from making direc...

Yes birdbrain.. they’re most frequent and successful tactic is to make a side sneak attack, from the west… there is some cover over that way , that they like to fly in from.. the gourds, hanging on the other side, kind of block that side, but I did put that “D” shaped guard to help prevent attacks f...

Hi Thomas.. I mounted a ceramic light socket to a 5x5 inch piece of wood. I screw a 6 watt reptile heat emitter to it, and run an extension cord down the pole. I hooked up an in-line rheostat that allows me to control the amount of heat, it gives off. When it’s cold, I just slide the unit into one o...

Thanks Phil. Yes, birdbrain, probably not the prettiest thing to look at, but if it protects my martins from suffering a grizzly death being eaten alive by a hawk, then it looks BEAUTIFUL to me!!

Thanks Dave. It’s not a military grade Martin bomb shelter like your cages, but i did use your idea to make a side guard to take out the hawks favorite angle and tactic. Side angle swipe attack. From my observations the frontal attacks aren’t very successful as the martins see them coming. Thus the ...

Hi unk….your red dot post is there. I just read it.. hey, whatever works best for you! If it’s a red dot or other! Agree.. They are good for quick acquisition of target, especially in close quarters. I have one on my draco Ak..
Yea Tom, red looks good on HOSPS!

Nice flyin.. that’s a great rifle for sure. I’m lucky enough that my set up allows me to shoot from under my patio , in my blind. Only 13 to 15 yds.. with magnifier on 6 it looks like the hosp is perched on the end of my barrel.. hard to miss if scope is dialed in!

Dialed my scope in today. Just a couple quick adjustments on the up/down turret. 6 shots in a row on a dime sized target at 13 to 15 yards ( the distance from my blind to my housing). That was enough. Beware HOSPS! Pic of target below.

No problem!!

Sure Tom.. I made a jig using a pmca gourd guard, by tracing the outer curve onto a piece of scrap plywood, then cutting it out to form a jig. I bought some 3/8 inch OD aluminum tubing from Amazon (very inexpensive $15 for 10 feet).. much cheaper than buying these guards online… I just bend the tubi...

Thanks… I hope it will work!

Hi all..it’s just about time again! I wanted to show these hawk guards I built this off-season. I built it out of aluminum, square tubing, angle bracket, and flat bar.. It’s amazingly light ( about 6 pounds) , but strong, and quite sturdy, as I only wanted to brace it from the bottom, not the top (f...