Purple Martin Forum

Got two T 14 houses plus 3” aluminum poles with winches. Asking $250 for both; local pickup only….download/file.php?id=16721

I have had several fledglings (apx 3 weeks old) that have jumped out of their super gourd/Troyer gourds. Why do they do this? Because of the heat? It has been in the low to mid 90's most of the week....

My very last pair (laid their eggs late) of PM's are acting very strangely......both adults are still around, ut oly hte MALE is feeding the young ones......the female just hangs around and flies around every once in a while. The good news is that the male is constantly feeding them and they should ...

KC.....nice idea about the brackets........I have often wondered about a way to mount the decoys to hand from the rack so they move freely in the wind.....maybe a new style decoy with spread wings on it....

Buddy.....yes.....decoys are great for a new colony and attracting PM's. But I do not need them for that since I have an established colony. I am hoping that removing he decoys will lessen the hawk attacks.....

I have been using decoys for several years now (11 year landlord) but have also had a large number of hawk attacks the last few years. I had the decoys on my racks strict for an alternate target for the hawks. However, I will try something different.......not use decoys at all. I think the hawks com...

Sorry to hear you are also having bad luck this year......hard to know what is really going on. Maybe some died in South America while living down there...

Mine were two weeks late this year and it looks like I'll be 15-20 pair short of last year unless I get a serious influx in the next week or so....

this is my 11th year as a PM landlord and at present (my last PM's usually arrive late May) I only have 20-25 pairs of PM's. The last two years I had at LEAST 40-45 pair, but have NEVER had a decrease in PM numbers from one year to the next. Has anyone else ever had this happen to them?? Any idea wh...

I had the same problem with starlings getting into my Conley II entrances. I even had one pair of starlings (before I set a trap for them) got into my Troyer gourd.....this is the first time I've seen a starling try to use a Troyer gourd. With my Conley entrances, after contacting Andy Troyer, I fou...

James.....the only problem now is the new PM's (just had six new ones yesterday) PM's have to figure out how to enter the new excluder II entrances; so far none have been able to get into one but I'm sure they will in time....

This is in reference to my earlier post about having trouble with Conley II entrances and the problems I had with starlings entering them (including one PM killed in a T14 compartment). I called the Troyers (who I originally purchased the Conley plates from last year) and let them know what had happ...

Put up a lot of decoys on your rack/s. They do help with hawks......the hawk will often go after the decoy while the other PM's are flying away. Be sure to rotate your decoys around.....

been gone on vacation for a week (had four PM's when I left) and when I got back found a dead PM in my T14 compartment; seems to be the victim of a starling attack. I have Conley II entrances this year and the starlings wiggle they way inside the compartments. Anyone else having this problem? Shold ...

will give you fits.....

was beginning to worry because this is a lot later than last year's arrival. So far, just one PM but I'm sure he'll draw in more soon......

this is the link:

http://shop.purplemartin.org/Starling_H ... tails.aspx

Last year they were here in Murphy around the third week of February.....

Dale Hollow Lake (in TN) and the PM's roost at the Lilydale campground there but I just called the campground and he said they only have a few hundred there. Where else is there a large roost in the east TN area??? Thanks....

My wife and I both have noticed that we seem to be losing PM's earlier this year than normal. Many of the adults (along with their recent fledglings) seemed to have "moved on" already where as in the past they normally hang around at least until early to mid July.....has anyone else notice...