Nailbiting new landlord story for those still waiting...

[Gary W]

Hi Michael,

Congratulations on your new colony! Your persistence was rewarded! There is one thing concerning your setup that I wanted to comment on. I did not notice a predator guard at the bottom of your pole to prevent rat snakes from gaining access to the housing. Your state is full of rat snakes, just like my state of Florida is. A single snake can destroy a small colony in one night, without you even noticing what is going on. So please, for the Martin's sake, and your peace of mind, install a predator guard!

Gary

[MRodgers]

Will do Gary! I need to get one up pronto. Will propbably make one temporarily out of a cofee can. What are those predator guards I have seen that look like a bush or a be hair nest at the base of the pole?

I will also be putting some petroleum jelly on the pole to keep any fire ant from getting up there. Fire ants are a PLAGUE down here.

cheers,
Michael

[Gary W]

Hi Michael,

You would need a really good-sized coffee can for it to be an effective guard! The PMCA offers several kinds of pole guards on their website. A note of caution, if a pole guard as screw heads protruding on the outside, run a strip of plastic package sealing tape over the heads and seam. Allow the tape to remain elevated over those gaps. This prevents a rat snake from clinging to those protrusions in order to breach the guard. Believe me, I have read some horror stories on this forum about snakes breaching some guards, and causing severe destruction!

The "hair nest" you referred to is bird netting that you can purchase in most hardware stores. I keep it installed above my stovepipe predator guard as a last line of defense. If a snake attempts to crawl through the netting, it will most likely get its scales caught on the nylon netting, and become stuck. That's when you can come on the scene, and manually remove the snake! You can look forward to all kinds of excitement when hosting a colony of Martins!

Gary

[MRodgers]

Hello all,
Well, tragedy struck yesterday. When I got home from work there were martin eggs on the ground. We only have one nest with eggs, tended by the ASY male and female that moved in a few weeks back. I did a quick nest check when the female flew out, this was around 6pm. I found one lone egg in the nest. I am pretty certain this was the work of a house sparrow, as we have been shooting at one that's been coming around for a couple weeks now. I keep missing him with the pellet gun. The eggs were pretty mangled on the ground, and it was not clear if the they were pecked, although one did look like it had been pecked by a HOSP to me. The eggs still had most the contents, so I don't think it was some other critter that raided the nest. I also don't think the female pushed them out, as if infertile. What are the odds of a martin pushing out 4 eggs at same time? Plus, the remaining egg seemed a little sticky, as if some yoke got on it from the other eggs.

This really has us down, because this is the only pair we have so far with any eggs. I REALLLY want to find a way to nail that HOSP. He only ever goes in our S&K house, with SREH holes,

Pretty depressed at the moment, but on the upside, we deffinitly have a SY pair saying in the smaller PM house, and it looks like another SY pair are staying in the attic compartment of the S&K house.

[KathyF]

Michael,

That's so sad. HOSP are indeed little demons.

You might try ordering one of these: http://purplemartin.org/shop/product_in ... 7eebaba73e

or call in sick tomorrow and setup behind a blind near your martin house with a pellet gun. I bet he'll be back for the rest of the eggs.

Good luck - I hope you catch / kill the culprit.

[MRodgers]

HELP! we don't know what to do. Last night, (wed the 7th) we had our normal martins come home for the night. The ASY adults, an SY pair that has stayed for about three days, and another SY pair that have been staying for almost two weeks. The SY pair that have been with us for two weeks layed one egg yesterday, or early this morning. (YEAEE!)

BUT, tonite (thur the 8th) the female that laid that egg was the only martin to come home. ??? we are missing the ASY pair, the 3-4 day SY pair, and the MALE to the SY female that laid an egg yesterday. ??

The adult pair still have one egg left, (lost 4 from a sparrow attack 4 days ago) but the adult female didnt come home to incubate the last egg?

Any ideas as to what is going on? All our martins were all here this morning before I left for work, plus some visitors, it was actually a very active morning for us. at Lunch time, my wife called me at work, and said the houses had martins all over them. But when I got home, (6:30pm) both our houses were empty, we did have a couple fly-by's, and some 30 second rest stops. But then only the new mom returned.

What should I do with the lone egg left by the adult pair? it isnt getting cold tonite, maybe 69degrees.. will the egg survive one night without warmth? Should i move it tomorrow into the remaining SY female's nest?

We are pretty much in a blind panic as to what to do. Any help from landlords with experience, or suggestions as to what we should do are greatly appreciated.

regards,
Michael

[MRodgers]

Update: This morning, (May 9th) all the martins were back!!? Go figure, crazy birds. They also seem to have brought another SY pair with them, so thats good news. On a downside, the adult pair have abandoned their one remaining egg, and have begun nest building in another compartment. Do martins ever have more than one clutch if they lose the eggs early in the season?

And, I got another frantic phone call this morning from my wife,

" I GOT HIM!"

" He dropped like a rock!"

Got who?

"That dang sparrow, thats who!"

She has been shooting at a house sparrow for over a week, now. Finally got him, and its a male. Hopefully that will give the new SY pair some time to get established.

I can't believe all this stuff is happening our first year as landlords!

We will keep you posted if anything else crazy happens!

[KathyF]

Yeah, welcome to martin landlording!

" He dropped like a rock!"

A gal after my own heart. I have an RWS 850 pellet gun with a scope and I just love this thing....it has sent 16 starlings and 1 HOSP to their dirt naps. I'm surprised the HOSP kept coming back with your wife firing on him all week.

Anyway, so glad your martins came back. What a relief for you!

Good luck this year!

[Mary Dawnsong]

Hi Michael,

I have had many cases of ASY pairs re-laying after losing a clutch. Every few years we get a May cold spell that causes many of the earlier nesters to renest. Years ago before SREH, I lost all ASY martin eggs to a single pair of Starlings; almost all of those pairs renested.

Good luck, Mary

[Guest]

Yeah, welcome to martin landlording!

" He dropped like a rock!"

A gal after my own heart. I have an RWS 850 pellet gun with a scope and I just love this thing....it has sent 16 starlings and 1 HOSP to their dirt naps. I'm surprised the HOSP kept coming back with your wife firing on him all week.

Anyway, so glad your martins came back. What a relief for you!

Good luck this year!

You spared no expense on that fine RWS air rifle. You get what you pay for.

[KathyF]

You spared no expense on that fine RWS air rifle. You get what you pay for.

Troy&MarlinaK,
That is SO TRUE!! I always learn the hard way; spend $$ on the cheap stuff, spend $$ trying to get it to work right, slam fingers in drawer - wash & repeat , then give up in disgust and go through the usual states (anger, denial, bargaining, acceptance), then reluctantly spend the $$$ I should have spent in the first place. You'd think I'd know by now. It has paid off in more ways than one now!

[Guest]

Hey Michael I got it figured out,you got the PM's confused,you don't know where you live so they to don't know where they live.

LOL, Sorry I couldn't pass this oportunity up,in your fist post you said you lived near Lake Houston in south west Texas,,,,,,,,,,it's actually south east Texas.

Now that we know where you are I think everything will be okay,I had a similiar learning experience in that the only thing I did right was get the hole size in the cavities the right size,thus it took 3 years to establish a pair.

I'm glad you have stuck with it and keep up the good work, we are all pul;ling for you.

good luck my friend

dick

[MRodgers]

Oh haha dick, good catch. Well it’s been almost a week since the martins have come back, looks like for good! The SY pair in the small Trio house are up to 5 eggs, (we call em little mama and little daddy, since there in the little house) The ASY pair have made a very nice new nest in another compartment, (that's big mama and big daddy, in the bigger house) but no eggs as of yet. We also have attic mama and attic daddy (SY pair), they have chosen.... you guessed it, the attic compartment. Also there is an SY pair on the opposite side from big mama and big daddy.

Since the wife blew the sparrow away, another male has been snooping around already! Well I had had enough those little suckers, so we bought a deluxe repeater trap, plus two spare-o-doors for the trio house. I installed the spare-o-doors during Tuesdays nights nest check, on the opposite side of the house from the nesting pair. I get home Wednesday night after work to find my new repeating trap on the kitchen counter. Wooo Hoo! now we are gonna get some HOSPS! So I go outside to setup the repeating trap, when I hear a scuffling noise coming from the martin houses. I quickly checked the spare-o-door compartments, and BAM! one door was down! I quickly lowered the house, put on the catching bag, opened the door, and out comes Jack Sparrow! It was a male too. I was just about to wring his little neck when I remembered reading that a decoy in the repeating trap would help attract more sparrows. So into the trap Jack went. This went down late last night, so I will have to wait till after work to see if any other HOSPS have come to play with jack!

In other news: captured and released raccoon travels over 5 miles across lake Houston to return to same backyard, and get his butt re-captured. He is now sleeping with the fishes....

Over the weekend I was watching attic mama, and attic daddy try to get into the attic, and having a heck of a time. The small plastic stick/perch would spin on them, causing them to fall, and fly back to try again. I decided to fashion a small "porch" for them to stand on, to see if it would help. While rummaging around for something to make the porch out of, I ran across an my old TV antenna, a big outdoor model. Which gave me another idea: all the aluminum rods would make great perches. If you have seen an S&K brand martin house, they are sorely lacking on good perches. The below photos are the final results.

The new perches were an instant hit!

The small porch I made. It really helps.

Big mama bringing nest material, with big daddy keeping guard.

Off to find more nesting stuff!

Big daddy doing a fly-by

The little Trio house got a super-size perch added.


Best wishes this summer!

[Guest]

MRodgers -
I have an S&K and tried to wrap a bamboo stick decking around to help my Momma and Poppa (Please, note, the lack of prefixes because we have only one pair).
Immediate results - sparrow went right in to their cavity, ans Starling used decking to sit outside their nest. Also they were afraid and flew overhead about 5 times, so I took it down even though it was quite sturdy.
I also got a bird mirrow/perch at Walmart and hung it on the back side of the house to help lure some friends in.
And finally, my hubby has been tinkering with his pellet gun since Momma started laying (5 as of today ) and I was telling him about one that had been mentioned previously, and while we were reading your posts - there it was again! The one he wanted and felt was too expensive.
Trust me - we read your comment and now will decide.
God is sooooooooo good.

[MRodgers]

Hi Liz, congratz on the eggz! Our martins seemed a little apprehensive when we first put up the perches, they did at least 8-10 fly-by's. I almost took the perches down, but a little patience and the martins get used to them. Perhaps you should add a perch that the starlings can use, and then pop em with the pellet gun while they sit all nice and still for you?

all the best.

[Guest]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

[MRodgers]

Talk about timing, last night I went to a local park and gathered a couple lbs. of pine needle nesting material to line our compartments with. An just this morning my wife calls.....

YAHOO! Our one and only martin pair have returned for 2009!

We are hoping to get some more pairs this year, as our neighbor down the street has not put his dilapidated house. I don't think he is planning on putting it up. Last year he was complaining that the martins were "already" back. If he doesn't put it up maybe we will see some of those pairs "move on up" to good life at our place. We're only about 50yds away.....

Keeping our fingers crossed in Tx.

Cheers, and best of luck this season to all.
Michael

[KathyF]

That's great news, Michael! I recall how depressed you guys were over the sparrow attack last year.

Sounds like you're ready for more martins this year - good luck!
Kathy

[donnak-Tx]

Thanks for sharing your story Michael and the beatiful photos. We are devoted and a little addicted to our purple friends! Like the idea on the perches for your S&K; I think I"ll try that for mine! Good luck! donnak

[Guest]

Your words of encouragement have really inspired me This is my second year trying and i live in a subburb as well. my site is not ideal either. I want to say thank you so much for sharing this. I will hold out all the hope I have for Martins this year!!