Purple Martin Forum

As I posted earlier they are 30 days late and now two males just showed up . they are usually here about last few days of February
and now it's 25 th day of March which is very strange after 20 years.

The easiest way i have found is get some two inch angle iron and heavy steel straps and band the angle iron in the weak spots,
this will stop all the sway.

I would put some kind of safety bolt through the pole to stop the rack from coming all the way down in case the cable broke or came loose. I had a cable to come loose and the rack fell, the safety bolt stopped the rack about 6" above my head and bent the bolt. i'm sure i would have been hurt ba...

I've had an experience like never before with baby martins . I have had martin gourds up for about twelve years and have always had about twenty to thirty pairs. BTW I live in Ga. This year they came in about three weeks late and by the time they all got here i had about twenty two pairs. About two ...

Looks like a good place for a purple martin gourd rack. That looks like a full time job, but all the fun watching is worth it.

I sure hope this years weather don't linger as long as last year. It stayed so cold and rainy here even the crows and hawks were in bad shape. One of my martins flew out of a gourd and landed on the ground and a crow dropped in just as he landed and sat there and ate him.

I had birds this time last year and the bad weather killed about nine of them. I tried to feed them but didn't start in time I guess. The picture today shows what we have now.

Raymond, this debate is not about common sense, it is about science. Common sense told us the the earth was flat and the sun revolved around the earth, science has informed us otherwise. The data you site which indicated previous CO2 increases lag the temperature increase proves how well climate sc...

The birds are out feeding or gone somewhere today, so hope this will keep them alive.
I have found only two dead so far, one was in a gourd and the other on my back patio.
I have had martins for the last twelve or thirteen years and this is the first time I've ever encountered a situation like this.

I put some scrambled eggs in the gourds yesterday and that has helped some. Today will be in the upper fifties. So hope they can feed some. John--they were going to the ground because they were so weak they couldn't fly very far at a time. I could walk up close enough to them to almost pick them up....

I have about 12 at present time. The weather is in upper forties today but the wind is blowing ten to fifteen mph now. They are getting very weak, and sometimes land on the ground to rest before flying off.if they can last one more day, the weather is supposed to warm up and wind quit blowing. I can...

I don't have as many martins as you do Ron, but they are starving to death. I tried to feed them but they will not accept anything. It's bad to have to sit here and watch them die. Don't look like the weather will warm up till about Tuesday. Any suggestions .

Ron, you got caught off guard just like I did. The earliest martins have come here was last year on the 17th of Feb. and I don't usually put my gourds up till about the middle of Feb. or a little later. Last Saturday mornibg a friend called and said he had seen a martin on his gourds early that morn...

I usually wait till about the last of February to put my gourds up, but decided to put them up yesterday the 9th. I just happened to be out yesterday afternoon late and lo and behold here comes this pretty blue male and went in one of the gourds just like he was home. He stayed the night and was sit...

Had to stand and watch a cooper hawk fly off with a martin this morning. The young birds are flying and making all kinds of noise which attracts any hawk in the area. I was standing within 15 feet of the hawk when he hit the ground with the bird in his clutches.

Harold, I'm over in Alabama and we are about on the exact same latitude. I do live around 1050 feet above sea level and I'm not sure of your elevation. I know our weather would at least be similar. I lost at least 51 nestlings due to this last cold snap. They died from hypothermia, and I suspect yo...

I did a nest check today and got a big surprise. When I checked the nest about six days ago there was five or six eggs in each nest, and I knew it was time for them to hatch. Today there was anywhere from one to six baby birds dead in each nest. We have had some cold nights for the last week but the...

I watched my gourds yesterday morning and saw one female all morning. Looked out this morning and there was three females and three males, and they have been fighting over which gourd is theirs all day long. It's good to see them back and looking very healthy. The photo is how they looked about the ...

Check the web site below for gourd swing.


http://www.chuckspurplemartinpage.com/gordswng.htm