Purple Martin Forum

We have had two martins (my guess is a sub adult male and female) at our Trendsetter 12 house (+ 4 troyer horizontal gourds) for five straight days now, but no nesting has begun as far as I can tell. Should I turn off the dawnsong now that we have two birds staying? Right now I have it playing 4 hou...

Probably a combo of both. I've done literally almost everything suggested on this site... Dawnsong played every morning, aggressive HOSP/starling control, nestbox 28 feet from martin house for TRES/Bluebirds, mud smeared on house, moved house to a much more open spot, etc. At some point the law of a...

Yesterday I heard the first martin chirps of the year and how exciting is was! I think this was two subadults, and they went straight for the horizontal Troyer gourds hanging under my Trendsetter 12, which I found interesting. This morning one of them was still there and circling around and followin...

I have a Trendsetter 12 House with 4 gourds hanging on the underside. They don't mess with the martin house too much (we don't have an established martin colony yet so it's a big empty house right now!). Mainly have more problems with them around my own personal house and birdfeeder and barns that w...

10-4, thanks.

I have two Blaine sparrow repeating traps which are good for catching the young sparrows, but there is a population of older sparrows that know not to go in them. I am not a good shot and they get wary after being fired at a few times. What are other options?

We caught this bird in our house sparrow trap and I hadn't seen one of his species before so took a picture before we released him.... anybody know what kind of bird he is? Thanks.

Would another option be to put up another nestbox within 5 feet of the bluebird nestbox, hoping to get a pair of tree swallows in that nestbox?

I had put up a nestbox 28 feet from my martin house (no established colony yet, just visitors) so that a tree swallow would nest in the nestbox as opposed to the martin house (and actually fend off other tree swallows wanting to nest in the martin house). However, now bluebirds have started to build...

Saw the first tree swallow this past Saturday (4/7) here in central Indiana. That's a few weeks later than normal here.

Interesting idea, but what about the purple martin fledglings? If it was too strong an entrance for fledglings to get in and out of then it wouldn't work. Not sure if there's a huge difference in strength between a fledgling and an adult martin, but I would think there would be.

On the sparrow and starling front, we do a pretty good job trapping and shooting. On average we've been killing 3 or 4 per week since we moved in 2 years ago.

Hi Rodger, The small white tombstones you mentioned are tree tubes for a walnut plantation I have planted on the north side of the creek of my property. Going treeless on my place is not an option (I like trees, and the windbreaks we've planted should help with the brutal winter wind here), but my p...

Hi 4th Gen, Yes the new spot for the martin house is near my garden where I spent quite a bit of time. Much more time spent there than in my front yard actually! I have noticed that I have one subadult in particular who likes to follow me around wherever I am on the property. I am hopeful this marti...

Hi Handyman, What was the exact distance you placed your tree swallow nestbox from your martin house? I do have 5 or 6 pair of tree swallows on the north side of my property, and 1 pair of bluebirds. I did notice the tree swallows chasing away purple martins sometimes this year. Next year I think i'...

Yep, the main drawback of the new site is that I can't see it well from my house. I am hopeful that this site will get my colony established, then I can try expanding my colony with additional houses in the future at my original location or a third location in the front yard where I can see them a l...

Hi MartinFarmer, What's an example of the colony 2 entrance tunnel you are referring to? I have SREH entrances on my martin house then just circle entrances on the natural gourds hanging beneath. Am thinking about maybe going with 2 troyer gourds next year to replace 2 of the 4 natural gourds. Less ...

Here is how it looks at the new site... Our main barn is just to my right from where i'm taking the picture and probably ~100 feet from the martin house. Another benefit of this new location is that my dawn song speaker is on the north side of the barn and I can hear it for a good quarter mile north...

marcus wrote:Is your front yard an option?

Hypothetically yes, but that road just to the south of us has a lot of traffic and power lines, and in the maple trees in our driveway are pretty tall so I don't think the front yard is open enough.

Cutting the trees is not an option, would cost me too much relationship equity with my wife! They also help shade the house.