Purple Martin Forum

Morning everyone, Adam Troyer and I went up to the Erie roost last night. We spent an hour or two at Beach 11, where the martins use to stage prior to dark. With two boxes playing the daytime chatter or dawnsong, we were able to attract 400-500 martins onto the phone lines. We saw about 5 birds with...

It was a really good conference. The speakers were great and very informative. It's amazing what the PMCA is doing behind the scenes with all of the scientific studies both here and in Brazil. Thanks to everyone who participated.

I heard about this article concerning the Erie Roost. It was in the Erie Paper on September 1st. Have we mentioned that Purple Martins are unpredictable? Our local roost here by PMCA HQ in Erie, PA isn't so "local" anymore. Our birds have moved their roost up the coast of Lake Erie 25 mile...

Hello Ron, It's probably uncommon to have a bird returning this late, but I heard earlier today that Andy Troyer of Conneautville, PA had two birds return last night. It sounded as if they were surprised to see them come in. I know years ago I was contacted by a rehabber about handling a bird to rel...

Andrew and Marcus Troyer and I were at Beach 11 on Wednesday evening trying to read bands on the wires there. We only had 15-20 birds flying around there and only a few of them landed. We then went to the north pier for a DCNR seminar on the Purple Martin Roost. At the most, we only saw 100-200 bird...

Is there any update on the status of the Erie Roost? How are the numbers at this time?

Nice looking site! Congratulations on becoming a purple martin landlord.

As it was mentioned by other landlords, leave this house up until other birds have started to nest in your new housing!

Good luck next year!

Yes Dave, I had a Songbird Magnet that I was playing from my truck and Adam had a Caller that was mimicking a martin colony.

Several of us, Adam Troyer, Jeff Hunt and myself were at the Erie Roost last night. We spent about an hour at Beach 11 on Presque Isle and were able to pull down some birds to the power lines there where they have been staging for years. The most we were able to pull down at one time was 14 birds. S...

Hopefully you'll start seeing your returning martins any day now Toy. At least the weather appears to be safe for them at this time.

Hello everyone, We now have multiple purple martin sites in northwestern PA that have martins back. Colonies in Espyville, Hartstown, Cochranton and the Troyer's of Conneautville have returning martins. It's a cold day here at 30 degrees, but with the wind chill, if feels like 20. Tomorrow the high ...

We visited the Erie Roost again this Wednesday. It was a beautiful night and there were about 15 people enjoying the birds. I estimated the number at 5,000, and Adam Troyer came up with approximately the same number. I think it's difficult to estimate the number of birds at this new roost since a lo...

Hi Dave, I have noticed some long periods for fledging as well, and most seem to be at the end. I am thinking that some of this occurs since the nestlings don't have the encouragement to leave the nest as they do when the birds have a lot of activity going on around them. From what I have heard from...

I visited the Erie Roost last night with Jeff Hunt and Andrew and Marcus Troyer. We saw about 2,000 birds. A lot were in the reeds and occasionally they would rise up and you could get a good look at them. It's possible that the roost may be delayed since our nesting season was delayed by approximat...

Bird, I am not sure if you have heard or saw it in the Update Magazine, but there is a new tracking system taking place using Motus Wildlife Tracking System, using cell phone towers. This will add an amazing amount of data to the flight statistics of purple martins. The University of Delaware has be...

Is there any news on the Roost in Erie, PA. Are the numbers building as of this time, or not yet. Does it appear that they are using the new roost or the old roost at the beginning of Presque Isle Bay?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks John for all of your thoughts over the years! They really make sense and trigger a lot more thoughts on my behalf as well as other martin landlords. Hope you and Louise stay safe from the Covid19 issues and in this upcoming hurricane season. Our year in review. Although the first half of May ...

It's probably good to leave your housing up for a month or month and a half after they fledge. They should return for 10 days to 20 days after they fledge, during the day at times and then at night. You may even have family groups from other nearby colonies showing up at your place and checking it o...

That's what I thought, but wasn't sure! Thanks for the view of the nesting martins!!!

While watching the bird cam around 8:20am this morning, we watched as the birds were removed from the gourd, the camera lens was cleaned and the nesting material was replaced. The gourd rack was then raised but the birds were not placed back into the nest. Did I miss something?