Purple Martin Forum

A heads up to everyone that accesses PMCA forum on facebook. I'm in Facebook Jail because someone asked what to do about an invasive sparrow. I told them they should shoot it. They looked at PMCA forum rules which prohibit killing any PROTECTED species (owls, hawks, snakes). Facebook doesn't know th...

I have 2 sixteen foot poles. I probably could have made do with 14. My lowest gourds are about 9 ft. Not at all a problem. Martins could care less. The advantage to keeping them lower - approaching storm fronts with high winds. The lower they are, the less stress on the poles. You don't feel the nee...

I just wanted everyone to know that Facebook blocked my access for 3 days. The reason was - I responded to someone's post regarding problem sparrows. My response was "shoot them or trap/euthanize". Facebook says that shooting or killing any animal is against community standards. I appealed...

I have 16 foot poles - I always keep mine lowered. Lowest level is probably 10ft. You never know when a sudden storm might come up. If one does and you're 40 miles from home, there isn't much you can do about it --- and if your racks are at 16 ft, there's more stress on the pole if subjected to high...

As I mentioned, John it was in my driveway next to where I park my truck. I see it many times every day.

I'd left my trap, unbaited sitting on my driveway next to the fence. Hadn't messed with it for over a month. This morning there were 3 young sparrows in it. Obviously one got in there and called to the others and they also figured out how to get in. The reason for this post is just to re-emphasize t...

Haven't done it. But envisioned putting a "C" clamp on the pole and letting it bear the weight of the gourd rack. Letting some more slack in the cable and unhooking the existing cable. Take the new cable and tape it to the old and then crank it through to the other side.

not as bad as you guys, but still... Here in NE NC, rain all day today and tomorrow... high in 40s, lows in 30s for the next 3 days. Been really unusually cool. Had one ASY male hang around for a couple of hours 3 or 4 days ago, but nothing since. I think the first week of April is going to be a bon...

clothes pins work. anything to block unwanted birds from going in. styrofoam pieces. pool noodles (usually hard to find in the winter though... maybe some stores will be putting out their spring stuff soon).

If they're not going to put the housing up, perhaps they'd like to let you have it ? I'd ask them. If they're not at all interested in becoming martin landlords, what they have might just be taking up space.

Ok... I too have a Gemini. I left the gourds on there over the winter and had no problems raising or lowering it.

I did notice it would "jerk" occasionally - it never did that last year.

Ron --- you ever get them down? What did you have to do?

as flyin-lowe suggested - wait until sometime in the middle to late afternoon to check them. The birds are generally off hunting then and less likely to be laying an egg..

I wondered if that could be it. No blood or anything. Nothing on the ground. I wonder what they do with them? ....

It was a BO-11 gourd with tunnel and the babies were all the way in the back, so unlikely anything could have reached in there and got them.

Thanks Tony..

Did a nest check yesterday afternoon. Everything seemed normal with the exception of a single gourd which 4 days earlier had 5 babies. That gourd was empty. As of yesterday, the babies would have been about a week old. All the other gourds had the right number of babies and everything seems fine wit...

Is it a good idea to run a wire between the housing and a perch? If it gets really windy, how would that affect the way the housing and/or perch swayed in the wind? I don't know if it would cause a lot of jerking? Just a thought.

Debbie - I had 8 gourds on an S&K pole last year. I put a Gemini system about 15 feet from the S&K pole for this year. I did leave 3 gourds on the S&K pole this year and put 28 gourds on the Gemini. All 31 gourds have nesting martins this year. You shouldn't have any problem with them re...

Thanks Laverne.. I went from 5 babies to 83 babies in a week.... still have 63 eggs to hatch and more eggs to be laid. I have 28 gourds on the Gemini - 12 of which currently have babies. The other 16 gourds either have a full complement of eggs or 1-4 eggs - 63 eggs total (wait, that was yesterday -...

My first babies (5) hatched a week ago (5/24). I did a nest check today and have 83 babies and 63 eggs. Some pairs have not completed laying (2 or 3 eggs). Thinking ahead, I don't want to scare the earlier hatched babies into jumping prematurely - by doing nest checks when they're getting ready to f...

Alberto has formed off of the S Carolina coast - Everyone on the Atlantic coast from S Carolina northward needs to monitor the forecast track of this system. Geez.... We don't usually get these systems affecting the Carolinas until late August/September. Depending on where it goes, it would really w...