Purple Martin Forum

Posted a couple videos for everyone to enjoy. one was taken in the evening, about and hour before they go in for the night. Martins just chillin on our houses. we had 13 pair this year. the 2nd was taken in the morning as i was leaving for work, they were making a huge racket, so snagged a quick vid...

Hey Matt, where abouts are you in Houston? I'm up on the north east side, near the lake and 1960. What type of housing/entrances are you using? Jeff, I originally had a lone Trio 8 compartment house, round entrances, and never got any PM's in it. A neighbor had an S&K barn with SREH, and had sev...

Oh, the photo is from ebay, not my yard. I wish i had a storage shed like that! We have a 2 story house, and a raccoon would have a heck of a time trying to get to the roof. A cat would have no change at all. I was think if I placed it right near the edge of the roof, I could access it with my big 2...

Hi all, so how is everyone making out this winter on HOSP patrol? Since Oct. of 08, when I put a repeating trap and two nest-box traps (Sparrow Door) into service, plus a pellet rifle, I am up to 72 less flying rats. The repeating sparrow trap is by far the most effective. sometimes when I get home ...

Hi all, has anyone ever had Martins nest in a cupola house like this one?..... Would they even nest in something attached to a house? I was thinking of building one of these that had easy nest check access as opposed to this Lazy Hill cupola. And didn't cost anywhere near $1000. CRazy. My problem is...

Hi Matt, well I just put up a Heath 24 compartment house, which brings us up to 46 compartments with only one pair from 08.

So we are ready! Vacancy sign is B L I N K I N G . . .


cheers!
Michael

Talk about timing, last night I went to a local park and gathered a couple lbs. of pine needle nesting material to line our compartments with. An just this morning my wife calls..... YAHOO! Our one and only martin pair have returned for 2009! We are hoping to get some more pairs this year, as our ne...

Hi Liz, congratz on the eggz! Our martins seemed a little apprehensive when we first put up the perches, they did at least 8-10 fly-by's. I almost took the perches down, but a little patience and the martins get used to them. Perhaps you should add a perch that the starlings can use, and then pop em...

Oh haha dick, good catch. Well it’s been almost a week since the martins have come back, looks like for good! The SY pair in the small Trio house are up to 5 eggs, (we call em little mama and little daddy, since there in the little house) The ASY pair have made a very nice new nest in another compar...

Update: This morning, (May 9th) all the martins were back!!? Go figure, crazy birds. They also seem to have brought another SY pair with them, so thats good news. On a downside, the adult pair have abandoned their one remaining egg, and have begun nest building in another compartment. Do martins eve...

Hi all, GOOD NEWS! The next morning all the martins returned! ?? I swear, these birds are going to add 10 years to my age. We still have no idea why they roosted away last night. But, the ASY pair are no longer going into their compartment with the lone egg, they have started building a new nest in ...

Thanks for the advice all. We stayed out watching for the martins return till well after dark, but saw nothing. As far as the HOSPS go, we have only ever seen one fly into any of the compartments, never more than one at a time, and thats over the last 6 weeks. I have been trying like crazy to shoot ...

I have another post, with our full martin history this year titled "Nailbiting new landlord story for those still waiting..." if you need any background info. this is our first year with ANY martins. We need HELP! we don't know what to do. Last night, (wed the 7th) we had our normal martin...

HELP! we don't know what to do. Last night, (wed the 7th) we had our normal martins come home for the night. The ASY adults, an SY pair that has stayed for about three days, and another SY pair that have been staying for almost two weeks. The SY pair that have been with us for two weeks layed one eg...

Hello all, Well, tragedy struck yesterday. When I got home from work there were martin eggs on the ground. We only have one nest with eggs, tended by the ASY male and female that moved in a few weeks back. I did a quick nest check when the female flew out, this was around 6pm. I found one lone egg i...

Will do Gary! I need to get one up pronto. Will propbably make one temporarily out of a cofee can. What are those predator guards I have seen that look like a bush or a be hair nest at the base of the pole? I will also be putting some petroleum jelly on the pole to keep any fire ant from getting up ...

I took this one yesterday during nest check, GOOOO EGGS!

Thanks guys, hopefully i wont be the only one with new tenants this summer! I got the old telescope this morning, and hooked the camera to it to take some photos of the martins, hope you enjoy them. Let us know if those mirrors and fake eggs help Troy&Marlina. Don't forget to make fake nests, th...

I'm glad liked reading it, it was getting pretty long!

I will try to get a photo of the eggs on the next nest check.

cheers

Thanks Liz/MM. Funny thing about the S&K, when i first put it up, i made some holes round, and left some SREH, just to cover all bases. The martins wouldn't even go in the round holes, they always went in the SREH. I think it may be because the established colony down the street has all SREH, an...