Purple Martin Forum

A possible benifit to having wrens nesting is, in Ohio, they don't like hosp! Since I placed wren housing around our property, there have been less problems with the hosp bothering the pm , bb, & ts .

MY starling nest box trap is the type with a hinged trap door at the bottom. Last year a starling dragged a long piece of grass in that blocked the door from swinging back shut. By the time I saw it, she had quite a nest built. I shot her , then cleaned the nest out. My down tube is 4' long, haven't...

I had a pair of screechies nest in my yard last year and the best thing about it was an immediate decline in the HOSP population! I found hosp wings all over the yard, and had much less problem with them at the martin housing. The screechies are back this week and again, a lot less sparrows. Way to ...

Teri,
I put the spookers up when I clean out the boxes in the spring. Not only are the swallows not bothered, I have watched them pull pieces off and incorporate them in their nests. I have had 10 fledge this year and 5 BB's about 1 week from fledging. And no hosp.
Bill

Hi mwolfe. I have a screech owl box that has fledged 4 babies this year. It is 200' from my martin houses. It may be coincidental, but since the owls moved in, the sparrow population has dropped dramatically. I have found many grey and brown feathers and chewed off wings(sparrow) under the box and a...

Carlton, I used 6 tunnels for houses with C2 entrances on my T14 this year. The day I put them on, the starlings went straight to them. Within 20 minutes, the starlings were entering as quickly as a martin thru a crescent, they filled every C2 cavity with nest. I trapped and disposed of 5 of them an...

I have had visitors since 4/19, many have scooped out nest bowls and even brought in some leaves. None stayed longer than 3-4 days and only 2 were females. Last year the 1 pair that nested here showed up on 6/7, and immediately started nest building, laid eggs, and hatched babies on 7/7. So I am sti...

I recently bought 6 tunnels for houses with the Conley 2 entrance. I put them on 2 sides of my T14. I did this because my gourds (THG) with this style opening have received no attention at all from the starlings. I have observed the starlings looking in the C2 openings, but I have never actually see...

Dan, This little bird was mdown in the grass, and 2 other TRES were dive-bombing it . It's eyes were not injured, but it had bald, red (bloody?) spots on the top of it's head. The lack of eye injury and the abscence of sparrows in my yard this spring (?) is why I have been looking for another explan...

Kathy, Thanks for the link, I will try that opening on a new TRES house I am building. I asked Cornell about my injured swallow and they replied that sometimes an adult male swallow will attack a recent fledgling in the same manner that a sparrow does. It has to do with their extreme site dominance....

Kathy,
can you tell me about the slot opening? Does it work with bluebirds also?
Thanks, Bill

This morning I found a young tree swallow on the grass near a nest box that had pecked areas on it's head. I put it in a bucket with pine straw and tried to feed it meal worms, but it refused them and finally died. I have spookers on all nest boxes and have seen only 3 sparrows (all eliminated) sinc...

My first scout showed up on 4/18, around 6:00 PM. He inspected 6 or 8 cavities, stayed the nite, then the weather turned cold and he left. Came back 4/22 and had another adult male with him, they jawed at each other and each spent the nites since in different cavities. But there has not been any fem...

Hi Everyone, The map shows martins 50 mi south of me so I unplugged and raised my offerings for this year. The house is from last year, all muddied up and with new nest trays full of pine straw. The gourd rack is my winter project, 4 SG and 4 THG on the bottom , 4 individual houses and 4 imaginative...

Hey Patch,
If that is a baited trap, what are you baiting it with and where do you have it placed?
Thanks,
Bill

Hi Linda, I used plans for the box I got from DNR, 8x8 , 12" deep, 3" hole. It recomended 15-30' high but I couldn't get that high so it is at 12'. Another source said that decidous trees were preferred over pine but pine is all I had. I put the house in a tree closest to the open field th...

Hi Everyone, I have been enjoying your stories about your screech owls. I forgot to mention that I put up a box for them about 5 yrs ago, and never had any action with it. After seeing the one, I checked the box and there is scat on the ground under it. this morning I saw an owl in the box. I will t...

When I first put up my T14, I was still working and didn't have time (and didn't know about) how to keep the s/s away. Last year I retired and was here all day to tear out nests and shoot/trap sparrows. I had one pair nest and raise babies and there were lots of visiting aunts & uncles during fl...

The last two nites there has been a screech owl in the tree in my back yard. It is there around dusk and then leaves when I turn on the lite to get a better look. I looked up screech owl on a couple sites and they claim these owls eat small birds as 5-10% of their diet. They apparently hover around ...

Hi Joe,
Your solution looks great. My question is, do you have a bolt, maybe removable, thru the pole that suspends the guard?
Bill