Purple Martin Forum

As of today we are still missing over half of our colony from last year which is over 22 pairs. I am wondering if they are just late or maybe they are not coming at all. We are in Maryland on the eastern shore side and wonder how others are doing in this area. It will be disappointing if we lose tha...

Don't give up yet.....mine are coming in later this year and I still have more to go. I live on the eastern shore of MD. I think a lot of people are having this same experience. Maybe there was some problem down in South America that caused a delay. Wouldn't start worrying for another week or two.

I live on the eastern shore of MD and as of today I haven't seen any PM's. We usually start seeing them before now. Is this because the migration is slower this year as reported in Louisiana? I would love to know if anyone on the eastern shore of MD has been seeing any. I get very anxious about this...

Last year we had a bad problem with martins fledging prematurely. It was very upsetting to see this. I am wondering if it was too hot in these natural gourds? If so, would it be advisable to drill some extra vent holes in the gourds and where should I drill them? If anyone has an opinion on this, I ...

I have a concern about these gourds getting too hot in the warm weather. Last year I had a terrible problem with PM's fledging prematurely. I now wonder if it could have been from being too hot inside? Is it a good idea to drill extra holes in the upper part of the gourd. I also read in the older bo...

I have a concern about these gourds getting too hot in the warm weather. Last year I had a terrible problem with PM's fledging prematurely. I now wonder if it could have been from being too hot inside? Is it a good idea to drill extra holes in the upper part of the gourd. I also read in the older bo...

I have a concern about these gourds getting too hot in the warm weather. Last year I had a terrible problem with PM's fledging prematurely. I now wonder if it could have been from being too hot inside? Is it a good idea to drill extra holes in the upper part of the gourd. I also read in the older bo...

We checked all the gourds today and there wasn't anything in there. So I was pretty happy that at least they didn't die in there. The question is, what did happen to them? I haven't seen them in 2 days, since the first night that we had the bad winds. I have an idea that the gourds were rocking so v...

After waiting anxiously for our martins to return and much preparation, they finally did on Saturday the 14th, a total of 6. We were so delighted. Then came Sunday's deluge of rain and the poor things were looking pretty pathetic, just sitting on their perches with their droopy wings. Not much we co...

We are here in Denton (mid shore) MD and thus far haven't seen any either. I have been very anxious to see the first one. However, someone about 7 miles from here has a few. Hope we will get them soon. Would love to hear from others in this area.

Has anyone tried spraying metal poles with silicone as a deterrent against snakes? I was thinking about trying it and wondered if anyone else has.[/b]

Do females call or is it just the males? I thought I read that it was only males. I have a new arrival that I thought was a female but it is making quite a bit of noise so now I'm confused about it. Hope someone can inform me on this.

We were also affected by that line of storms last night. The problem was that we had just gotten our first ASY martin the day before and were so thrilled to see him back. We only had one pair last year. So we decided to lower the gourd rack to keep safe from the strong winds. Well, when we tried to ...

I am trying to get my gourds ready and one question I had is on the inner white skin that adheres to the gourd wall. Some of my gourds still have that attached and I am unsure what to do to remove it. I need to soak them in copper sulfate and don't know if you can do it with this skin still attached...

I am getting ready to order some new entrances for my gourds that I grew last year and wonder what would be preferable to use? I would appreciate any help on this topic. thanks.[/b]