Purple Martin Forum

We had 108 hatched and lived until the extreme hot weather resulted in three dead chicks and four left the nest before they could fly. The colony started leaving around July 1st and I have not seen or heard a Martin in three days. They usually do not leave until Mid July.

Tim, They (BB) are predictably persistent little critters that don’t easily alter their territorial claim but can be redirected. For me it was a frustrating process that required a Trio with four gourds to be closed for over a month. Fortunately I had two other nearby houses with gourds that were oc...

In a similar post dated Feb. 28, 2011 Site Administrator Louise Chambers gave the following webb sight for information by Dan Drew. http://www.drugfreeworkplace.com/~Dan/TRIHABITATION/TSEMERGENCY.html I found the information to be very educational and the applied recommendations have solved the curr...

Chris, pine straw and pine needles are the same. However, some Pine trees have longer needles than others. Dried needles that have been out in the weather a few months will be softer than those that have recently fallen. Make sure that the needles you use are dry. Any dried needles can be softened b...

Bull, PM sent. Check your messages.

By gum Bull I thank ye finely got er. Ever thang in Newton and Marion Counties is backerds. Makes a body wunder if some em birds aint got red necks and shotguns. Cud be whut they drank makes em fickled. LOL

Don, Maintenance and recoat those puppies after each season and you will have Purple Martin heirlooms. Hang them and they will come! You may get some minor wear each year on the entrances that will need to be touched up. In the future if you should decide to try excluder entrances instead of crescen...

Don, the Naturals look great! :grin: What did you use to seal and finish them? If you intend to use porches better get them ready because the naturals will be used with or without porches. I have twelve natural gourds (four each under three different Trios) that have carved excluder entrances withou...

:grin: Our Purple Martin friends are without rebuttal a very fascinating specie having many unexplained activities and probably a multitude of undiscovered inbred or learned characteristics. PM annual migration is a phenomena that interests me. Even though I have thought of myself as a Purple Martin...

The Amish are genuinely good people and are skilled in many crafts but IMHO most, like their openly modernized countrymen, tend to overprice everything they produce. The unpainted wooden Martin Houses are no exception. They are overpriced. But then so are domestically marketed PM houses (pieces and ...

I notice there was a reported sighting by "unknown" today in Harrison approx. 30 miles south of Branson. None here today.

LOUISE, YOU ARE SUCH A DIPLOMATE . You always seem to say the right things at the right time. That's why we love you bunches.

Tail clipping is an excellent option for public sites. I might have to resort to it myself when the 2 public sites go up at the banks - although this IS southern Missouri, where most people aren't quite that squeamish. :) But time will tell. The only things to remember about tail-clipping: 1) Their ...

:grin: Jeanne, you had me feeling great sympathy for you having to face the inevitable future of that darling couple of HS sweethearts that the cruel landlord was going to have to forcefully evict. Now it appears you have the constitution of an experienced HS executioner. Way to go girl! By the way,...

Trapping and transporting any native songbird - martins, bluebirds, wrens - is illegal. I think using the methods outlined by Dan Drew in his tri-habitation site is the way to go - see http://www.drugfreeworkplace.com/~Dan/TRIHABITATION/TSEMERGENCY.html Louise, thanks for the information. GREAT sit...

MidTNJerry wrote:Can you guys elaborate on the "clipping the tail feathers" thing? What good does that do?

The only reason I can think of for "clipping tail feathers" would be to cripple the bird and let the neighbor's cat do the dirty work.

Jeanne, just be sure you catch the male. He started the problem and will continue to give you grief by sweet talking another female into his pad. IMHO there is no such thing as a good looking House Sparrow nest. All I have ever seen were trash traps. Neither is there going to be any way for you to d...

I have three BB houses located within 100 yds or less to my bird housing (Trios & natural gourds). BBs successful nest and fledge every year from all three BB houses. I have never had a problem at my home in N AR. However, I have been trying to establish a colony at the home of my sister who liv...

Kathy, They appear to be running 7-10 days ahead of last season but in some cases less than that. This season they have consistently followed the Mississippi Delta county N through AR. I'm located almost directly S of Branson, MO. I think we should have arrivals sometime this week. Keep your eyes an...

D'Nese wrote:I guess my question is why would you want to do that?

And the answer is: “To keep the blue aggressive rascal out of the Martin Housing