mary d. - sparrow # 150

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airborne
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:47 pm
Location: texas/houston

mary d. - here is a picture of #150 in my trap.

www.airbornebirds.spaces.live.com

about 85% have been caught in my six
spare-o-doors.

also, when they are hesitant to come out into the bag, we stick a dowel through the hole in the inside wall.

make sure your rubber band is not rotten, or they will knock the bag off when they exit.

airborne
Mary Dawnsong
Posts: 1685
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 8:17 pm
Location: Michigan, Livingston County

Congratulations, airborne!
150 HOSP trapped in one season!

The Spare-O-Door is my favorite martin management tool!

Good tips...
I use the stick-through-the-hole trick, too.
And, yes, rubber bands don't seem to last long.

My best, Mary
Last edited by Mary Dawnsong on Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Click here to see my colony
"In Michigan every martin matters"
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airborne -

Viewed your photos - they are great!
I noticed that entry hole inserts are removed from a few gourds. Was this done intentionally to enable fledglings to re-enter more easily?
We have Naturelines with crescent-hole inserts, which are not the easiest for the young (let alone the sub-adults) to deal with.

- Tom
airborne
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:47 pm
Location: texas/houston

Tom, you are right, it was easier for the fledglings to return and re-enter, which they all did. They also played in them for 2-3 weeks.

We originally removed the gourd faces because they were jumping from the heat. None of them jumped after we removed the faces and the parents kept feeding them. They all fledged from each gourd about 3 days later, and came back to them. The babies you see in the pictures had not fledged yet.

We call them Martin Gazebos. We also have some bored-out oblongs on each rack.

Airborne
RC Moser
Posts: 1546
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2003 3:25 am

IMO I would be afraid to leave the gourd entry insert out may invite owls.
airborne
Posts: 66
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:47 pm
Location: texas/houston

RC, well I think most people would be afraid to do this. But I have lived here for 40 years and never seen an owl.

If we had not done the gazebos, the babies would have died from the heat or jumped and became lost. What's the difference, dead is dead.

Retired, 82nd Airborne
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