Purple Martin Forum

Do you use martin decoys or dove decoys? I have some martin decoys but when I put them up my male martins fight with them so much I'm afraid they will hurt themselves. The males just won't leave the decoys alone until they knock them over or off. I have never tried putting them up before the martins...

I know what you mean Dave. I had that feeling as I dispatched a male sparrow Easter morning. I have seen the damage English Sparrows do to the martins and other nesting songbirds. So since God didn't put them in this country, man did I justify it as doing his work. He didn't want them here or he wou...

Avesrun, I am familiar with Willow Creek golf course. I'm not a golfer but I live in Des Moines a couple months of the year. There are only 47 adult scout reports for Iowa at this time so many have not seen their birds yet. 2014 ended with a total of 83 adult reports. I would rather they stay south ...

No martins yet at Okoboji. Last year mine returned on April 12th and in 2013 they arrived on the 8th. I expect to see them here before the end of this coming weekend.

Avesrun which golf course puts up the housing ? Is it DM Golf & Country Club.

To make sparrow hole tunnel just cut a 1 & 3/8 or 1 & 1/2 inch hole in a white plastic lid from a cottage cheese or sour cream container. Cut it out and tape or glue it over the martin hole.

Hi Pleasant Hill Dave, I don't post a lot, just check in and read several times a week. I did respond to the you before on the thread you opened on 7-6-13. If you check out the info under my name you see Des Moines-Milford. During the winter I live in Des Moines and the summers Okoboji (Milford,IA)....

How many nesting pairs did you end up with? How many gourds did you add in late May? Did the old metal house get more tenants? My colony is about five miles from your friend Wendell Hansen. I offer 32 cavities a combination of gourds and two houses. I have 25 nesting pairs this year up just a couple...

I have seen multiple martins going into gourds and housing compartments anytime it gets cold. Last year we had a lot of snow after they arrived and all housing that was open were packed full. My neighbor counted 17 martins coming out of one gourd one morning. I have never seen any of mine get caught...

Iowa had two large German POW camps during WW2. One was in Clarinda and another with 10000 POW's was in Algona Iowa. Most of the prisoners were farmers in Germany and worked on the farms in Iowa replacing the many men who were gone to fight in the war. See the attached link of the museum in Algona. ...

I maintain two sites on my lake lots at Okoboji. I did nest checks yesterday and had everything from eggs to newborns and one nest within a week of fledging. This year I put two gourds out in the lake about 20 inches above the water. One of the gourds over the water has the five chicks close to fled...

What size hole is best to put on a trap built to attract starlings ? Would a 2" or 2 1/2" be good or is there a better size for attracting starlings ?

Thanks for the reply Don. I am certainly going to try at least one pole with a few gourds in the water this year.

Glad to see you respond Don, I was going to reply about having seen pictures of your setup in Minnesota just a couple feet above the water. I have heard there are no sparrow or starling problems as they won't nest over water, is that true ? I have two sites on lake front lots in NW Iowa but my poles...

Carl I think yours are overdue. Last year you reported an arrival on the 29th. We were in Pompano Beach again for four weeks, we headed back to Iowa last Saturday. I was hoping with all the early arrivals in Florida I might get to see your birds before I left. I drove around your condo grounds a cou...

What happened to the author of this post ??? Looks like he posted a question then never checked back.

Why not add another pole with six gourds where you were going to move the pole this year. Then when your martins come back the old pole will still be there and the new pole will be available for overflow. If some nest in the new pole this year move the other pole next year and they should all move o...

I bought some martin decoys and put them up last year after I saw some hawks watching my site from neighboring trees. My martins hated the decoys. They kept flying into them trying to knock them down. I finally took down the decoys before my martins injured themselves.

I have hawks flying around all the time and a week ago I heard my martins give a warning call and scatter as a hawk swoped down over my head and at the rack. I had some decoys I had never used so I mounted two on my highest perch. Immediately the male martins started dive bombing the decoys while sc...

I bought the Manna Pro pullet sized oyster shells in a five pound bag. The chunks seem pretty large even though they are supposed to be pullet size. Do any of you that use oyster shells crush them any finer than they come in the bag ? If so how do you crush them?

Thanks for the reply. When I pull a sparrow nest I always got rid of it so they couldn't use it to rebuild but I never thought of putting my trap on the pole with the nest in it. Seems all the females I catch in the trap find their way to the middle compartment but the males must be to wary to push ...