Purple Martin Forum

Thanks folks!! Its just so early or I have the fear of it being early but i need to remind myself the birds always know more about their food supply than I do. Those crane flys are always my indication of the birds arrival. Those two females/1 male have been gone several hours having lunch or what I...

We were blessed yesterday with arrival of 2 females and a lone male. This am the females are checking out all the gourds and the sound of their singing is once again a welcome sign that spring is arriving. My fear however is this is the earliest we have received martins in the past 10 years. By at l...

Hi all, Ive got a single late nester left for the year out of 34 pairs with around 158 nestlings total with just a few jumpers killed by house cats. Wonderful year and blessed with an ever increasing population. Sevin was used for the mites along with Paulas numerous hose sprinklings in the 100deg w...

Are martins in Nevada a rare occurance ?

Wife and I spending our Bush rebate in Lake Tahoe and were eating our last romantic dinner at the restaurant on the 18th floor of Harrah's Resort Hotel(Fridays Station) 2 evenings ago and could not believe what we were seeing besides the beautiful view of the Lake Tahoe sunset. There were probably c...

Since my wife and I have a newly installed nest cam moving nest to nest we are trying to decide on an important question. We both have a well established colony with 48 super gourds and one T14. We also are constantly trapping S&S's in several different traps and are constantly watching for the ...

Hard Rain,25mph winds from south east,high 60's lower 70's temps,1800hrs,getting dark, and 17 martins are doing flyovers!!!!!3birds to our gourds,2 to neighbors and the remaining birds I presume are heading northeast. Such a beautiful,wonderful sight even in the rain!!! Hope they found their way to ...

Working for a rancher in my younger days I I used to mix "portland" cement in with ground corn,white millet, and milo and this took care although painfully I would imagine, with all the barn nesting HOSP. Be careful with pigeons,doves and other barn nesting birds. The HOSP will pick and sc...

Here are some more of these brilliant birds!!

Ive had as many as 8-10 hives and trying to establish a couple "top bar frame" hives. Here in southeast Texas the fencing actually helps the hives because of the extreme heat/humidity. I have 34 gourds(plastic) and all have the standard round hole entrance. Plus a couple of wooden houses i...

I've kept bees for years now in my backyard and have had martins for several also. Both are a joy and are extremely entertaining. My gourd racks and hives are only 50-60ft apart with a small shrub line in between. The hives are surrounded by 6ft cedar fence to keep their "beeline" going st...

What a 0800hrs surprise this morning with temp @ 30degf. This lone guy I hope stays but seems to be nervous and wanting to head toward the Yankee states. Ya'll better be ready cause they are heading your ways.
He is so beautiful but appears to be on the cold,tired side of his trip north.

Martin's roosting @ Alvin Elementary School area

Hang on landlords, Ya'll have had your share of the global warming!
Hope everyones birds hang in there and make it through all the terrible weather.
Gog bless all of you and take good care of the martins!

Emil is right. We probably have several more days of Hitemp/humidity which means an extremely high index. I did hookup a full circle fixed head sprinkler and wetted em down several times. They did'nt seem to like it. In the past I have had them dive and seem to be playing in a regular lawn sprinkler...

Nothing but babies left in my plastic gourds and range in age from a few days to almost fledging.
What is the HEAT tolerance for Martins here in SouthEast Texas 25 miles south of houston?
The bigger babies are all hanging their heads out with their mouths open.
Is this a valid concern ?

I do not want to risk ANY migratory birds to wind turbines no matter how small the chance, if it could even ever be proven. We already have nuclear in the Bay City area, whats wrong with a few more! I say go nuclear!! I LOVE THE BIRDS(MARTINS) more than some energy company or gov. and we need to pro...

We got to watch them for several minutes grabbing and flying to their nests with Oak leaves and hard stemmed grass. This is our 1st for seeing martins on the ground!! Earlier this morning we got to see a hawk land on our neighbors PM housing and stayed. The crows were giving him a fit and he finally...

Just caught these nest builders on the ground 25 feet from the gourds!!!
1st for us here in South East Texas!!!(Alvin,Texas)
Just wanted to share with everyone!!
We LOVE these birds!!!!
Mike/Paula

Sharp-Shinned Hawk no doubt about it!!! Adult!! What I would like to know if you or your close neighbors are feeding the local population of native birds or possibly a park nearby with pigeons or mourning doves ? These particularly like to hang around feeders waiting for the perfect kill when the bi...