Purple Martin Forum

Anyone in Southern Indiana do any banding or close to this area ?

I'm totally full this year. My question or concern is 3 pair have a clutch of 7. Should I consider sharing 1 or 2 with a smaller clutch of the same size? Or let it roll?

I'm looking into the possibility of having about 150 birds banded. Is anyone aware of a bander in southern Indiana ??

with over 40 pair of martins this year i am capacity filled. After the storm i did a nest check the next morning and found a cap blown off of one of the gourds. After checking in on them, there were still 4 healthy babies inside. The cap was replace and i hope for a complete survival from this group...

I'm so far behind this year !! Any thoughts, pros or cons about leaving the previous years nesting material ? I know I will sprinkle seven under the material to destroy any parasites as safety !!

I got my "U" turn sign up !! I hope they hold up for a couple more weeks, their really pushing their luck arriving this early !! I expect to get a few a little earlier this year. Anxious to see them arrive, I ended up with 40+ pair last year, so this year is sure to be interesting

Kasha, you can lower the rack during hatching, it's not a good idea to after the young are about 14 days old, as it may cause the young to jump to early. i have removed eggs in the past, but only when i am certain that they will not hatch. Watch for activity in the nest. If you have any doubt, leave...

I spent some time today taking, what i think are a few great pictures. Most of the little ones have fledged with the exception of about 3 nests. I am anxious to lower the racks to get a more accurate count of pairs this year, compared to last. Hope you all enjoy, it was a great 2010 season !!

if you have young that are near fledging be extremely careful about lowering your system, this may cause multiple premature fledges. More than likely if this young one is ready to fledge he or she may have been knocked to the ground by a subbie, i see that often, the young may stay grounded until th...

Cheryl can you tell how old the young are that are dying? My colony a couple years ago suffered losses due to the biting gnats, i think it was related to severe flooding in our area. Most young survived till about 8-10 days old. They become weak with redish tinted spots on them. What concerns me is ...

Ed do you offer any gourds? This area martins seems to prefer gourds over houses. Once your colony is starting you may have better luck at them taking to the t-14. Location is a big plus as well, away from trees and within 100 feet of a home or building where there is human activity. Most importantl...

Thanks Kathy and John. John that is my son and i. My colony is at a public site as well. I try and do regular nest checks, and have been asked the same question. They tolerate it well, but let me know when my time is up !! This female in the one picture and i have met 3-4 different times this year, ...

well this is my first at posting pics, just a few of some nests. Everything is going well, and looks to be an increase compared to last year !! Hope you enjoy !!

i was a little nervous about an early clutch of 5 eggs that were laid just before the really cool nights early this month. Nest check thursday and all 5 hatched and are looking good. There are 16 remaining nests with 63 total eggs, and still several more nests being heavily constructed. Still some f...

yes norris, i went out this morning, and on my approach i had a mess of them still in the gourds, so i didnt want them using all their energy and only flipped about 100 crickets, several crickets were taken, but they didn't seem real interested so i think they are doing pretty well so far. It didn't...

it's been cool and rainy now for a 2-3 days. I noticed the martins were not as active yesterday evening as they have been, those of you that are experiencing this same weather pattern pay close attention to your martins, you may want to consider supplemental feeding. PMCA has information on how to s...

Just an update ---- i spotted another SY-m and two females this morning. The fight is on to claim gourd #2 and several others. An adult female and sy female really going at it. Falling 12 feet to the ground over and over for 2 hours has to be exhausting. Egg laying has been delayed due to cool weath...

Don, i as well have noticed the late evening arrivals. I like to watch them come in to roost. After doing nest checks i noticed there was a lot of activity in the gourds( nest bowls, leaves etc. ) that didn't match what i was seeing in the evening so i was patient, watched later and had two more gro...

a landlord a couple miles from me asked for some advise in getting a colony started earlier this year. He has the start of a colony well underway his first year. Question is, i had him put on 10 gourds on one tier to start, but they are close to full, would adding more gourds to it cause any confusi...

last week several pairs of martins arrived at the colony, and staying the night with a few weak nests started. Several gourds show activity of martins staying in all night. However this week with periods of cool nights and rain during the day, i have seen less activity. Are they somewhere waiting fo...