Purple Martin Forum

S & k Bo 9 with clinger entrance & Porch

28 gourds,,22 occupied, 112 eggs
Off to a good start

Never did come to a conclusion. We did have some weather that was in the 30's and rainy. The females were setting but males and females were found dead in gourds with no signs of trauma. Don't know if it was starvation or not.Glad I had a lot of subadults nest this year. Hope everthing continues to ...

Nesting progressing well in this rebuilding season although sparrows still intruding. Tore out 4 sparrow nests.

11 eggs, 42 babies in 15 active nests

Great photos.....and I hate house sparrows!!!! I've had trouble trying to get rid of one building in one of my gourds.

Should I block empty gourds to keep sparrows from trying to nest or try to trap with sticky trap. PM nest have eggs and babies in them.

Nest check this evening revealed 14 active nests with 37 eggs and 17 babies -- an exciting discovery since this is a rebuilding year after last year's colony loss. Hopefully I've defeated the sparrow because no sparrow nest rebuilt in past two weeks. Love being landlords to these fascinating birds.

Thanks I will try that.

When is the best time to do nest checks. I usually do it in the evening around 5 to 6 pm. The martins are circling over my head and like they don't want me there.

Thanks to all for all info and pictures to help remove these pest

Thanks for the information. I have been removing nest material and eggs weekly and they keep rebuilding. I hope this trap will work.

Has anyone had any luck trapping H/S in a bo nine gourd, if so what kind of trap will work ?

Still nest building going here, had some subbies come late and saw some bringing in nest material this morning.

8 active nests with 34 eggs and 4 more with green leaves in them
Looking forward to a better year and a healthy colony.

Never found out why they died . Would do nest checks and find them dead in their gourd with their eggs no trauma .

After starting over this year I've got two nesting pair and four pair of subbies. Subbies are nest building at full force. Hope my luck holds out for a good season,so excited !!!

The first 3 were found May 7 weather was cold & rainy temps in upper 30's. Next week another dead female,next week 2 ASY males 1 female. No rain in my area, southern middle tenn,for 2 weeks temps in upper 80's. Did nest check yesterday and found 2 females dead sitting on their eggs. They did hav...

I'm continuing to find martins dead on the nest and have been unable to determine the exact cause. Having lost a total of 9 now, most had no visible signs of trauma; a couple may have been pecked but not noticeably so. Some were sitting on eggs and the eggs were not bothered. I have ruled out some p...

Congrats and good luck with your martins !

Nest check today revealed eggs in 5 nests -- so excited. Found one dead female in a compartment with no eggs and no signs of trauma. This morning it was 36 deg. here; wonder if cold weather was cause of death? Still learning about these birds. Any information is welcomed.