Purple Martin Forum

I'm sorry if this has been covered but I have a question. I have used since 2003 the Troyer Conley II gourds (supposedly startling resistant entrances). About 2 years ago the starlings started getting into the gourds and even trapping them, I couldn't keep up. The startlings got in no problem (I gue...

Thanks very much for the advice. Really hawks are the only thing that makes sense. There have also been a ton of crows around and I don't know if they have anything to do with this. Thanks again.

So, I have had my colony since 2003. Each year the martins show up and each year I have 24 Troyer gourds with martins and fledglings. Yes, some years are hot, some rainy, etc. but year after year, I have martins. In February the martins starting showing up. I put up 6 gourds, waited till more showed...

I trapped another starling yesterday that was getting into my Troyer gourds with the Conley II entrance. I check my gourds every other day and saw that a starling was making a nest. My observation is a martin will not go into a gourd after a starling is making a nest. I set the pin trap (my homemade...

I have probably over 100 goldfinches show up each year. I have many tube feeders and lots of sock feeders. They love thistle and black oil. I did want to mention that they will not eat old thistle. If you have some left over from the year before and freeze it, that should be ok. I'm mentioning this ...

Thanks so much foryour insight. I have 24 Troyer gourds and this year, I have 24 pairs of martins in various stages of nesting -- babies, eggs and just about to have eggs. The martins are actually driving off any sparrow that comes up and this is really exciting. I thought about adding another pole ...

I have to admit that even though I certainly don't want house sparrows, it is kind of fun trying to figure out what will trip them up. The other two couples were not nearly as smart and tape on the loop and a little below got them. The other pair needed the grass clippings. I used to put dead grass ...

I have Troyer gourds and I have had several pairs of house sparrows try to take over gourds this season. I eliminated the last pair today. What I have noticed about the Troyer traps is that sometimes the house sparrows go under the loop and sometimes they go through the loop without setting the trap...

The deluxe repeating sparrow trap is an absolutely amazing trap. I usually transfer a sparrow that I trap in a gourd over to this trap and, like magnets, their friends come and get caught too. It is not illegal to dispose of House Sparrows and Starlings in Texas. Good luck.
E

Hey. Thanks for your comments. We live on 2 1/2 acres in an acreage development in Fulshear. We have huge rat snakes that have gotten up the pole (even with the baffle) and do have raccoons in the development but, for the most part, they stay at the back of the development near the lakes because we ...

Thanks for the sand tip. I'm going to do that also. Hopefully, I will be covered then. Thanks,
E

I have attached the pictures without the netting. Basically, you cut the tomato cage so that it slides around the baffle. Then you take the "legs" of the cage and twist them around the pole. When you get the netting (I'll post a pic of that later this weekend), you wrap it around the tomat...

Finally, pictures of the tomato cage over baffle

Thanks to both of you for making me (again) feel better. I did have the netting up for snakes (if I can figure out how to post a picture of my tomato cage/baffle set up I will post it) so no snakes last year. I did not have any babies just "disappear," didn't have any deaths on the ground....

I had a red tailed sitting on a gourd last year. Those hawks look enormous when they are on a rack. Sorry about your martins.

Because mine are not here yet. If there are others that haven't seen their martins, I will feel better about this. Emil made me feel better last week but they still aren't here.

My camera is too "great" haha to post my pics. I will take with the other camera tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

I'm trying to post a picture. When I do, you will see that we cut the tomato cage to slip it over the baffle. We used the wire parts that should go in the ground to wrap around the pole. When I wrap the cage with the netting, I'll post a picture of that too. We have the holes drilled in the baffle b...

My martins aren't back yet and I take the netting off each year after they leave. I'll take a picture of the baffle/cage without the netting and post one with the netting also. Thanks.

I really appreciate all the invaluable information regarding baffles and netting to stop rat snakes. I had a very big problem with rat snakes back a couple of years ago. They were very large, aggressive and getting around my baffle from PMCA. I got the netting as suggested (I got deer netting becaus...