Purple Martin Forum

Turn it off now. They have found your housing and are checking it out. It has accomplished what it's designed to do. Common sense says it would become a distraction now to those birds you have.

I am wondering now to wait til females lay eggs in town to play my dawn song. I can stop at one site to check. They've been there since April1. I see where the martins are gathering nesting material at that site. So won't be long! This is good information Louise, Thanks and good luck If you have ma...

Why don't you just trap the sparrow if you can't shoot it?

chickadee wrote:It is fast for me. Mine came a month early and I am full already and know SY birds back yet. Wonder why slow other places?

Weather

hi Sharon. I have one decoy on top of the T 14. I play dawn song in the morning and daytime chatter with song magnset during the day. I was using the songbird magnet when the asy males showed up. dawn song is played through speaker on t14. songbird magnet played on top of stump about 10 yds. from s...

chickadee wrote:Yea they say you may get like one I think? But my martins came back way early this year. I do not think migration was slow. They say subbies follow 4 weeks later. So I expect to see one soon that they will return early also.

It's slow. About two weeks behind here.

It's early yet folks. Hang in there!

You should be fine to do them. The martins will probably be out feeding anyway.

I felt the same way you did about crows, but then I came to realize the are pretty good guardians. They will not stand for hawks or owls in their territory. I have not seen them give any harassment to the martins or their housing, so I welcome them. And for that reason I love to see them around my ...

It could be the trees but doubt it with just 2 at 25' tall. I have seen alot worse. Get a copy of the Dawnsong and blast it as loud as you can and draw some of those martins from the slums is what I would try and do.

Today I heard a huge commotion, and moments later saw about a half-dozed martins (along couple of barn swallows) hot on the tail of a hawk, driving him out of the neighborhood. The frustrated hawk cut an arc up to the ridge of a neighbor's roof, thinking he might catch a moment's rest. Instead, a m...

Toy you have conditioned your martins to eating what YOU provide. How would you know they would not eat crickets if they could find enough bugs on their own? I think you may be conditioning them to not be able to take care of themselves by feeding them when it is not needed.

Hopefully they all come back tonight. Then a whole new stage of fun starts. The parents trying to get them back in the housing.

I do not think all adults would have abandoned your site if one or two had been grabbed by a hawk. Have you seen any predators around like hawks or heard any owls? How were your martins acting? Did they fly right into the compartments when they came back or did they hang out and socialize? Your situ...

No worries they are doing what they do. They will not progress with the nests/eggs until the weather has settled down, which it looks like it might have. Patience is best now. Just enjoy the daily activity.

Play it as loud as you can whenever you can. When you get martins looking at your site or staying turn it off. You want them checking out the housing not looking for the birds on the recording. Once you get martins they will bring the other martins

John I have not seen any subs yet this year. Not at my site or Cahokia. I was there today and just what a thriving colony we have there. Removed one partial sparrow nest. Can't believe how hard those sparrows defend that one gourd with all those martins there. Hopefully the martins will own it soon....

I would say that having Red-tailed Hawks nesting nearby could help deter owls, smaller hawks, and crows from nesting nearby. They all are potential predators of each other's eggs and young, and don't want to have each other for neighbors. Fatman's observations are not in dispute, though, but what's...

Yep they are most likely back and will take them a couple days to settle esp with this weather. And yes you can report your scouts back!

thanks for the reply's. I am surprised nobody has really heard weather or not martins will kill each other for a gourd? but as I posted this martin was killed inside the gourd wings outside of it blocking nobody from coming or going. the killer was draped inside witch was a female martin with feath...