Purple Martin Forum

This year is a very odd one. I got my first martin right on cue, but then only a couple more in the next 2 weeks and at this point I am only about half of where I should be at this time according to records. I am hearing from a lot of people across the country that they either have no birds at all o...

I have never had a single breach through the Conley 2 entrances here by a starling, but I have watched them try for a long time before I shot them

Thanks Dave. I may well go this route then for the next houses built. I do like the looks of the wooden over a rusty metal pole.

I very much appreciate you taking the time to give a detailed opinion. Until the last couple of years I have always just used wooden houses. I grew up with wooden martin houses and when I became an adult with my own property I built more wooden houses. Last year I bought a Gemini gourd rack after se...

What would be the ratio of gourds to non gourd housing at you guys sites ? Is there any real benefit to having, for instance, wooden housing such as T14s in conjunction with gourd racks at a single site ?

Well, it appears that not a soul in here has any experience with these types of poles so they must not be too great. I have tried getting a hold of K. Fecker, but they are a GHOST just like their house design when it comes to finding a valid email addy and I don't like calling folks out of the blue..

WoodenPole.jpg These are not solid 4x4 posts. They are a 2x6 on each side with a 2x4 in the middle creating a channel for the cables to go up and over a pulley inserted into the top and down to the winch. I like the looks of the wood, but not at the expense of breakage, warping or low ability to wi...

Does anybody in here have direct experience with using the type of wooden pole structure as shown by the Fecker GHOST house illustrations ?

While I certainly hope you are right this just doesnt fit my history. I have at least 30 birds at a min here by this time and have them well before birds are reported in Ohio etc

Unfortunately, I am afraid a lot of the birds heading to this area will have perished in the prolonged weather that had the perfect bad timing to catch them on their way in. I am at less than 20% of my normal occupancy at this date. A bit more time will tell but we have had good weather here for a w...

The flash may be infrared but you can see the lights turn to red when the game cameras flash if you watch. There is also an audible click at the same time. You can also see this red light glow on some security cameras that use infrared spot for night time recording.

Make noises or talk to the birds before you launch the cricket to make sure their attention is on you and they are watching you launch the cricket. Launch it out in front of and over them where they have a good flyway to catch the cricket. Once you notice that they are following the crickets flight ...

I used Conley 2 for the Troyers I put up last year with not a single starling breech the entire season and the starlings are bad here early on. I watched one try for about 15 minutes to breech one before I shot him. He was really wanting in some kind of bad. The only breeches I had were from sparrows.

Last year was the earliest arrival for me and resulted in me launching 10,000 crickets into the air with plastic spoons and slingshot.

I don't want mine earlier than last year. Early birds often get far more than they bargained for

I am already at 100% occupancy on the Troyer Verticals. They really like these things. I can forsee a whole bunch more of them going up for next season

No subbies here yet in mid Arkansas, but any day now. Not sure I have much room left for them though. I am pretty full already

In my location, even though I am not within city limits and I can shoot whatever I would like, I have to take into consideration downrange residences although they are a few hundred yards out, they may well still be in range of a 22 rifle even one traveling at 700 fps. I can also shoot suppressed ri...

One of the most useful tools for shooting starlings and sparrows if you choose to go that route is a scoped 22 caliber Benjamin Marauder air rifle. With a depinger installed this rifle is near silent and extremely accurate at typical starling shooting distances. The Martins will just sit and watch t...

If they are eating crickets then they will make it. Keep flipping