Purple Martin Forum

Had a pair show up this morning. Preening themselves in the morning sunshine sitting on the perches above the gourd rack, we had the rack lowered and all gourds were closed as there was a pair of house sparrows that have been taking up residence in one of the gourds so placed a gourd with a trap in ...

I also have the same problem. When i click on my state (GA) I get Missouri, I have to click on southeast of Fl to get Ga. and i am on a laptop.

THEIR BACK. 1 male and 2 female showed up last eve. It was great to hear them again! This eve husband said there were about 8 around here before I got home . Will be so much fun to watch them again! Love my Martins!

In my experience, as the colony gets older they can come in earlier.

We tried for a number of years too before we got our first pair.

Hope you have a good year.

Well this morning a female joined him. A little while later another male came. I'm a happy camper!

An ASY male came in this morning around 7:30 AM. Temp was 35*. Warmed up to around 60* today. Two days later than last year. I am glad he waited till after the snow storm we had last week. He looked it real good shape. Will be waiting on more to come and enjoying him till they do. Hope everyone has ...

Davlyn:

We are in Northeast Ga, not far from Lake Hartwell, or about 2 hrs northeast of Atlanta.

Have had more SY's in the last 5-7 days that are causing quite a commotion around here. There has been one nest that has fledged and are gone most of the day but then they come back in the eve and want to go in their gourd but in the mean time some of the SY has laid claim to their gourd and it can ...

I have a wild cherry tree that looks about the same way. it is their preferred leaf at my place.

I feel it is difficult for them to access the SREH be it crescent or other entrance without a porch. Maybe there are others who don't find it that way but I would add porches.

I too have been seeing some of these same antics today as my first little ones took to the sky, from hanging upside down on the porch to sitting in the trees to mama and daddy teaching them how to come in the gourd in evening. regretfully I haven't seen them getting water as we don't have a pond wit...

Here are a couple pictures of the Rough Winged Swallows and the pvc pipe I put up for them, I know it's kind of crude but they seem to have accepted it altho nest building seems to be kind of slow. they are not building in earnest yet.

Thanks for the replies. I did put a little water in the pan but nothing else. pm - I have a tray I put on a wooden post close to the gourds, I also put pine needles on there as well as egg shells, the mockingbird has been feeding eggs shells to their young but yesterday was the first time this year ...

Watching the martins today I noticed a couple things, It being windy today I noticed they were feeding closer to the ground, then it made sense, the insects were probably flying lower, less wind resistance. Second was: they were also flying back and forth along a line of trees, possibly more insects...

A couple weeks ago I posted about a pair of Rough Winged Swallows that were checking out the 2" pvc pipe that is the vent for my central vacuum. Someone gave me a link to a website that the owner was hosting them in PVC, so I went looking to see if my husband had some laying around and I found ...

I did a nest check yesterday: out of 12 nests found 41 eggs and 22 nestlings. one nest last week had 7 eggs, this nest check it had 10 eggs! whats with that? I'm sure not all will hatch but it will be interesting to see how many do hatch.

I too started my colony with round holes, and had a starling kill the female and destroy the six eggs she was sitting on, we then started changing to crescent openings, I was nervous just like you, worried they would not like them or couldn't get in. I can truthfully say now it was the best move we ...

Deb: I have used the electronic sheet in the past and liked it also but now don't have it anymore, would you be able to give me the link for it? I have searched for it a little but can't seem to find it on line. Thanks

I have 2 SY males that would love to have a couple females come around.

I am so amazed at your photos! keep em comin!