Purple Martin Forum

Thank you Matt!
I am so sorry to hear the maker of my lovely weathervane passed away. I feel honored to have a piece of his legacy.

Thank you All, I found the info. The forum is such a great place to 'chat' with like-minded (bird crazy) people!

Thank you!

Hi Astrid,

Do you remember where we got the Purple Martin weathervanes??? I have a friend who is interested in purchasing one.[/img]

Hi Again, Just thought I would bump this up for those of you that haven't seen it yet. While geolocator season is getting nearer, funding, unfortunately, is taking it's time! Take a look at the Birds with Backpacks website and see if there is some jewelry or even just some information that you find ...

Hi, I am not sure which bird you are talking about but there could be a few reasons why a particular data point is not included. First would be if it is considered an important data point. Does it yield valuable information about the migration or does it only serve to clutter the map? Another reason...

Hi, Some of you my know me from my participation in geolocator research but what you may not know is that I am also an artisan of fine silver jewelry. I am dedicating all profits from the sale of my jewelry to support geolocator research from my Mid-Atlantic PUMA colony. If you are interested in hel...

I can't really tell from the pictures but it looks to me that the one on the right in the first picture and the one in the 6th and 7th picture may be SY birds. The crissum area looks pretty white. Get a closer look with some binoculars. The one in the first picture appears to have a very dark head, ...

Hi Dennis, I think you should have a Purple Martin Field Day...or at least a Purple Martin Party!! My colony is 22 feet from my deck. We are on a hill so the deck is level with the housing. For the past 5 or 6 years, I have a "Meet the Martins Party". Last year when I invited all the group...

Tim, I couldn't agree with you more!! I have seen very experienced banders break legs when trying to remove a band. Bird legs are very fragile as is the thorax area.

Thanks for letting me know about the post! Are you going to play the dawnsong again this year?

Hello Fellow VA Landlords! I have a colony in Woodbridge Va. of approx. 65 pairs. I have a T-14 and a SS-36 gourd system. My T-14 is home made (Kathy can attest my crying on the forum when I was trying to patina the copper roof!) as are 18 natural gourd cavities. The gourds are from Lance Wood's (Mr...

The fact that there is no federal band indicates that the yellow (poorly fitting) band was put on illegally. I agree, it was probably put on so that someone could see if their martins were returning. Several requirements must be met in order to qualify for banding permit. Among them are: a valid rea...

I would venture to say that you can still have healthy fledglings at around 48 grams, perhaps even a little less. They actually begin to loose weight as they get close to fledging. They can loose up to 10 grams from their highest weight! I have found that their weight is highest somewhere around the...

Emil,

You are full of good ideas

Hi Emil, The gourds are usually dry except when we have a driving rain with heavy wind. All the gourds hang from gourd hanging arms and the natural gourds I made a few years back, were made with what I remember as one of your ideas. I used a piece of PVC to run through the neck of the gourd, glued a...

Hi, I am glad to hear that I am not the only one who has issues with Sevin not working. At one point I was putting in a heaping tsp of the 5% Sevin every week and it was barely making a difference. I ended up doing another (3rd!) nest replacement and spraying with a fly-repellant for horses. That co...

Hi John,

Do you have a full picture of it? Does it have a predator guard? I need a vertical picture which exemplifies "What not to do".

Hi Everyone, I just got off the phone with Andy Troyer. They just had a solid week of rain. The rain effected several states including Ontario, PA, NY, WI, and OH. Andy's colony lost 483 nestlings. Within 1 square mile of his house, over 700 nestlings perished. Andy said not to send condolences but ...

Does anyone have a picture of an old, sparrow-infested, bent pole, doors falling off metal house picture??