Purple Martin Forum

Please check your cables and pulleys. One of my houses crashed due to a broken cable and nearly landed on my head.This unit I acquired from another landlord and thought I could "get by" another season without upgrading the cable and pulley. My other poles have aviation grade stainless cabl...

My wife Claudia is in Merida, Mexico and reported seeing martins overhead. Still no sign of them here in central Florida and I hope they hold off for warmer weather.

Thanks for the information. It looks like I'm on the right track. I just don't want to mistakenly make it easier for the owls.

[attachment=0]owlguard.jpg[/attachment] Happy Holidays All, I am preparing for the upcoming season and want to install owl guards on gourds. I have found that #9 galvanized wire works well by simply sliding the wire tightly through holes drilled in the gourd. Is there a specific distance from the go...

"The main problem I have with the elevator is keeping it centered on a sideways direction."

I have used cut sections of a BIC pen slid over the axle to keep it centered.

Thanks Deb. The week before there were 4 young 2 days old and 1 egg. I may have miscounted the number of eggs but that doesn't explain the 9 day age difference.

During a Martin Watch nest check yesterday I found 4 young that were 9 days old and near the entrance was another baby, just hatched. Next to it was an unhatched egg. I transferred the new hatchling and egg to another nest with 5 young of the same age. Does anyone know how this occurs? Would those n...

Talk about perfectly bad timing. I just left my job in your area and moved my traps to Florida. I think you are at the epicenter of the sparrow and starling populations and I would have gladly given you those traps. I don't have a problem with either of those pests here at home but I sure caught a l...

I'm on the right coast east of you. Had 27 eggs Saturday's nest check. Figuring out the new Martin Watch system.

I don't have English House Sparrows or European Starlings at my colony. I have 2 traps that I was using at another location. If anyone is interested, send me a P.M.

Yes, they are 1 3/4" and they are the common grackles. Today I was able to keep an eye on it during the day and shooed them away when large flocks landed. The starlings and grackles don't seem to be flocking together since the snow. Before the snowfall, they would come into the yard mixed toget...

I have been catching 5 to 10 starlings per day in my v-trap here in Mississippi where I work. Now that we have snow on the ground, I expected those numbers to go way up. And they have, except that it's grackles instead of starlings. About 50 a day; no starlings. What's up with that? I had not had a ...

I was really impressed how easily he handled the house sparrow, carrying it around until I approached to release him from the starling trap. Very tenacious.

Some excitement today. I was keeping an eye on a hosp in the v-trap this morning. Normally the sparrows get out through the chicken wire mesh but this time a shrike went in after her. The shrike managed to catch and kill her after some chasing around!

A friend of mine has a chugger-type sprinkler head that activates from a motion detector; its purpose is to keep sandhill cranes from pecking holes in his porch screens. That would probably work well for owls at night. One would have to deactivate it during the day or the PMs would be constantly set...

Good strategies. Thanks all.

Some animal has chewed a small hole through the chicken wire on my v-trap just large enough to drag a starling through. It was difficult to detect until I saw a starling escape through the hole. Whatever it is, it's going after the decoys at night while I'm at work. I doubt a cat could break through...

Bottle Rockets! Good idea. Been a long time since I shot rockets at the "bad guys."

Yes I know too well how persistent they can be. I have watched coops take several martins off of the perches. Owls visit frequently also.

Nobody has been more diligent!