Purple Martin Forum

Six have moved in here in past week. Three days of temps in mid 30's - mid 40's with some rain. Not cold as last season ( lost 9 birds), but not possible to feed. No luck flipping (I suck at it, BTW!), but placed some crickets, meal worms and scrambled egg on porches. Crickets may have ben eaten, bu...

Hi all: Haven't been on in a while, but was also noticing the late start to egg laying. Must have to do with the lack of flying insects post freeze? I have a full house of 12 pair. Will do a nest check tomorrow, but as of last week, nest building far along, but no eggs. Expect some tomorrow. Could b...

Yep, probably too big a task to get an accurate estimate of the number of deaths due to a certain event. Also, like Coolwhip said, the number of birds on the migration north that succumbed to the weather cannot be counted or estimated accurately. Unfortunately, that may be the greatest number. The w...

Sad to say my 6 early arrivals are no longer here. Checked the house today and found 4 dead (3 males and 1 female) with 3 in 1 apartment. Also found another dead male on the ground about 30 yards from the house. Some crickets still on porches where I left them. Last saw the martins huddled on the po...

Whippy: Still early, but 1st arrival this afternoon. May have visited earlier in the day and I missed him, but ASY male did several fly-by's and finally landed and entered the new house for the evening. This is 2 days earlier than last couple of seasons. Looks like the housing change out will not be...

I am doing that now. Had an old DuraCraft plus 3 troyer horizontal gourds underneath. Modified 2 of twelve original 6x6 cavities and had full occupancy. The floors were corroding above the gourd brackets and got tired of repairing them. Just installed new Trendsetter T12, virtually in the same spot....

Steve: I noticed the Trendsetter house in your colony pic. Very impressive setup, BTW. Is that a TS16? If so, I was wondering what the approximate dimensions are for that house. I am looking into a replacement house for my relic. Think I am at end of the life of my current house due to corrosion and...

Hello Dean: I have an old Duracraft 12 compartment house that's been repainted 3 times now. I used Rustoleum Hunter Green (glossy) for the porches and Rustoleum Glossy White for the walls. I assume you have the snap on walls. Bought paint at Home Depot. Martins have thrived for the 9 seasons at this...

When my first pair finally stayed I couldn’t get to excited because I always experienced them leaving and never coming back! So my most enjoyable moment for me was when that first baby shot out of that gourd! I balled like a baby! It was 5 long years of a dream come true! I was so proud of them and...

Today, the first pair of PM's for the season showed up at my colony. This event is my favorite part of being a landlord.

Of course the excitement of getting those first visitors to a new colony is an unbeatable feeling, and it's almost as exciting when they show up in year 10!

Hi:
I live in Katy and have about 13 nesting cavities. My birds usually show around Feb. 20 - had 4 arrive on the 18th this year. Now up to around 20 birds, so almost full. Good luck this season.

Emil:
THe favorite knat repellant at the golf courses around here is vanilla extract. Some use 1/2 water plus 1/2 vanilla, and some mix a little soap with it. It really works for the knats. Not sure how it does with mosquitos - regular repellent work great for them.

I don't have any yet, but suspect it's due to some landscaping this winter. Ususally have first pair by Feb 15 and 2 - 3 pair by now, but have not even seen one in my neighborhood. I was holding out hope that the palm trees installed fairly close to one side of my house would not deter all of my for...

Why anyone would bring those ugly birds across an ocean with them is beyond me! Set up my house and gourds last weekend and had first Martins arrive this weekend. They took to the gourds first this season. Monday after work I witness a big ugly breaching the Conley II on 2 of my 3 gourds. Had to sea...

Louise: Thanks for posting. I could not help but notice on the same web page there was the pic for the "Austin, Texas Purple Martins' Pre Migratory Roost June 22, 2012," but it sounds and looks like Grackles to me. Do they sometimes share roosts?

Bill: I live west of Houston, TX. The large grocery store about 1.5 miles from my home is home to a roost of grackles that must number 5000 - 10,000 birds. What a racket they make! Every evening they fill the small live oak trees and power lines in this commercial center. Just this morning I noticed...

I'm 2nd generation. Our next door neighbor had an old 4 apartment house with 2 pairs of martins along with sparrows that intrigued my dad and me. Shortly after moving there, mMy dad and some friends got together and built large plywood PM apartment houses from the same design and each erected one at...

Hi Katy Lady. I live in Katy. Put my house up last Sunday and had 2 pairs visit at the same time that day. Haven't seen them come back, but I haven't been around during the day very much. Last year my first pair showed up Feb. 13. Hang in there, it can't be much longer.

I've never seen Loggerhead Shrikes mess with Martins, and the martins don't seem to mind them hanging around, at ;east before nesting commences. But for the second time in 4 years I witnessed one carry off a recently fledged mockingbird with the parents chasing furiously behind. It seems so strange ...

Emil: Don't think we got that much rain in my part of Katy, but got enough to turn my sprinklers off for a few days. We did not get any hail, and Martins appeared OK - usual evening chaos with cavity seeking youngsters. Don't know why, but I am harvesting a bumper crop of tomatoes this season. Much ...