Purple Martin Forum

What is the effect on Purple Martin roosts in southeast Louisiana from the recent torrential rains?

Mark, my great grandfather was a landlord in south central Ohio. I have a photo of his, "Purple Martin Hotel", lol, in the late 30's to early 40's which I need to use as my Avatar on this site.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments! Answering a couple of questions, my neighbors assumed the colony left behind. Next, I've started over with a new 12 gourd setup consisting of Natureline gourds with crescent entrances. The bottom of my lowest set of gourds is 14 feet above ground. I've used f...

Please wish me luck gang in trying to establish a new colony within my back yard here in Alexandria, Louisiana. It was really hard leaving a colony upwards of 50 pair in DeRidder, but happy to have assisted in the growth of our beloved Purple Martins
there.

Due to relocating, I had been feeling really low having to leave behind my thriving Purple Martin colony. While unpacking at our new home I began looking through old family photos. Shockingly I find this old black and white photo of my great grandfather's Purple Martin House dated 1943! I had never ...

That's really neat Emil!

Starlings hate me Glynn, my gourd system has custom made SREH's!

Connie, I have lots of family in Denham but I'm not from there!

After seven wonderful years in DeRidder and having built a Purple Martin colony exceeding 30 pair the job dictated a move to Alexandria, LA. Looking forward to building another colony at our new, hopefully permanent, residence!

I meant to say the Starlings must be a "bit larger" instead of a smaller here in the south. I modified my old entrances by reverse mounting the Clinger SREH over the Conley ll SREH which totally solved my Starling issues!

Apparently these southern Starlings "are" a bit smaller than the northern relatives. I also fought Conley II's for a few years before converting to Clinger SREH (28 total) in addition to 12 crescent. I still have starlings visit occasionally but no more issues!!! Just fight the sparrows he...

I found a beautifully colored ASY male dead directly under one of my colony racks! The males have been fighting for a week or so and I suspect this bird was a direct result of the natural process.

I didn't see one out on a porch either this season. As in your area Emil, food was abundant especially Dragon Flies. Mine never got more than a head stuck out of the entrance holes with all of my gourds having porches mounted.

Well, this is the first night my Martins failed to come home so I guess it's safe to say my season is over. What a fantastic season and the most successful since becoming a landlord in '06.

Buckizig, check your message box.

Steve, that's really impressive! How many years in that location did it take to build your colony as far as number of pairs?

As cooperative as the weather has been this season I think they will.

I performed a weelkly nest check and this morning and discovered a gourd with "EIGHT EGGS" ! I was shocked since I know I didn't miss them last week. I guess this is going to be the standard around my colony, having a late group of fledglings in July just as last season. A quarter of my ne...

Mine seem to love it! I like to sit on my back porch and watch them enjoy the rain just as much as the sun!

Really nice pictures!