Purple Martin Forum

Hi Folks, just wondering if any of you have ever had this problem. I had a very good year and fledged about 200. The very last to fledge was here with it's mother for a few days after the other birds had left. After just seeing the 2 of them for a few extra days, they also left and I figured everybo...

Hey landlords in Austin, Texas. My name is Ron and I am a landlord in Penn Run, PA. My son loves martins too and is currently visiting Austin. He has spotted some housing in the area but no martins yet. If you have any, could you let me know. I would love to pass that info on to him.

My son, my wife and I were all watching the world news last nite with Lester Holt. When the footage of the (now deceased) Texas bomber's house appeared, my son said, hey dad--did you see what was in the foreground in that scene just now? As a retired fraud investigator, he knows I take great pride i...

Thanks Steve, very simple, very uncomplicated, and yet very impressive!

Hi Steve, I am always impressed with your posts and these pics/houses are wonderful. I really enjoy making new housing and was wondering if you or Bob could indicate a little more about overall size/dimensions, and where he gets the aluminum trim coil, etc. Thanks, Ron.

Hi Toy/Bill, I just watched the weather report for the remainder of the week--wow, only in the 50's all week and lows in the 30's. Old man winter just refuses to give up. Glad to see you folks getting martins. The earliest I have ever had them was last year on 4/27.

Hi Louise, 2 quick comments--first, thank you for assisting me in getting connected to the forum--what a wonderful site with lots of good info. Second, my wife works for our local university and they asked me last year to provide an article on my fascination with martins. I did, and added a little h...

Hi Bill, I know you got your martins on 4/13 last year and have been watching for you to get them any day now--good luck! Ron

Hi Colleen, here is my tidbit of advice--I wore out 2 cd players. Last year my son said a CD has too many moving parts, so, we got on e-bay and purchased a cheap, used I-pod which is digital and no moving parts. Works great!!

We had -13 with a wind chill of -22 but they are saying 32 tomorrow--go figure!!

Steve, very informative and helpful. I've been researching additional perching and you are right on the money!! Thanks, Luv your pics too, Ron.

I've had discussion with the gentleman who first invented the excluder gourd and entrances. He says he put the line on there to aid in filling it. He further reminded me that he typically uses pine straw, BUT it should be "white pine" with the very long, soft needles.

This is exactly why I joined this forum--I had a similiar question about a perching wire and have seen plenty of options and some very interesting ideas that I had not thought of. Thanks to all!! Ron

Very exciting and nice pic!! I never see martins until May but was pleasantly surprised last year with an early scout arrival of 4/27! Still cold and snowing here. Good Luck, Ron.

Anthony, I agree with your thoughts on starlings. They are unbelieveably mean. I built one of the traps that has a floor inside that drops down when the starling goes in. It traps him in a lower compartment. Then, to get away, he goes thru a hole which puts him in a 4 in. pipe where he drops into a ...

Way to go Ivan!! Your set up sounds a lot like mine. My problem is the fact that the closest known colony to me is 20 miles away. I do get some visitors and for the past 2 years, I've had a colony of one--a single ASY male that does bring in some females but they just don't stay. At times he has als...

Hi Annie, I am considering adding a wire also except mine would be between my gourd rack and my T-14 pole. I will first have to add an extension on the gourd pole to keep the wire level. My concern is that a very thick wire could sag unless pulled pretty tight. Then, if you get too tight, you might ...