Well, I just observed 2 full size starlings entering my gourds! Just put the traps back on them, but am courting a male purple martin who's been investing my new site this week and don't want to trap him or discourage him for coming back. Makes me want to stop playing the martin chatter, but gosh, I'm trying to attract them (he brought a female recently and it was thrilling to her use the SREH entrance (there are none used in my neighborhood). Guess my concern is how to trap the sparrows and starlings without discouraging the martins.
PS He just showed back up with a precious female. Trapped one starling, may have been smaller than I thought, though never that close to them before.
Do you keep trapping when the martins show up?
Starlings & Troyer Conley entrances-new landlord
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Donnie Hurdt MN
- Posts: 1723
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2004 11:14 pm
- Location: North Prairie, MN
How high is the bottom of the entrance above the floor of your porch floor? If it is higher than a 1/4 inch it will be eaiser for starlings to get in any sreh style entrance.The bottom of the entrance should be 1/8 inch above the porch floor to be most effective against starlings.
PMCA member and Martin fanatic....
2011 A pair of subbies fledged three young but none returned in 2012
2015 One Pair of subbies came and stayed a few nits but got chased away by Bluebirds and Tree swallows.
2017 0ne pair of subbies nested and fledged 4 young
2018 Tree Swallows AGAIN chased away any martins that wanted to nest
2019 Same old story................
2011 A pair of subbies fledged three young but none returned in 2012
2015 One Pair of subbies came and stayed a few nits but got chased away by Bluebirds and Tree swallows.
2017 0ne pair of subbies nested and fledged 4 young
2018 Tree Swallows AGAIN chased away any martins that wanted to nest
2019 Same old story................
Hi Becky,
I use several kinds of SREH's at my site. The porches are mostly 1/16 of an inch or less below the hole. That setup will stop the starlings. The Martins can negotiate the higher porch levels with no problem.
Gary
I use several kinds of SREH's at my site. The porches are mostly 1/16 of an inch or less below the hole. That setup will stop the starlings. The Martins can negotiate the higher porch levels with no problem.
Gary
I agree lower the sreh entry may deture most starlings. but, if the sreh is too big it won't stop a few determined starlings regardless how low you put it. Shooting , trapping, or changing to another design sreh would be the the only way to stop these determined starlings from getting in.
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Becky
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 4:06 pm
- Location: Houston - Oak Forest
- Martin Colony History: first pair in 2010, 12 pairs last several years
Has anyone modified Troyer porches raising them? Mine are a little over 1/4 each from entrance, except for section that dips down in the center which is to 1/8 of an inch (about 3/4 inch wide).
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
The dually entrance will stop the starlings, but the martins may have a harder time learning to use it.
PMCA Member, 250 gourds, 6 poles, 2traps
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Carlton
- Posts: 1959
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
- Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
- Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
If you have the older Conley style entrance, with the lower porch, you can purchase a couple very small bathroom ceramic tiles from Home Depot, Lowes etc. and "cement" them to the porch right until the door. Fits perfectly. I used the clear Lexan (sp?) cement under each tile. I used two of the tile, side by side, and NO starlings got in all last summer. The tiles will be almost flush with the bottom of the entrance hole. I put a tiny strip of nonskid tape on top of the tile too but I do not think that was really necessary as I had martins get into the gourds on the ones without the tape as well.
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teridickinson
- Posts: 227
- Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:05 am
- Location: Texas/Lake Palestine
Thanks to Emil's good advice I used a little piece of corrugated plastic signboard, like they use for election signs. We've recently determined that we think the stuff is called chloroplast or something like that. I put it down with liquid nails and put liquid nails on the top surface and dragged a screw through it like a comb to make traction.
Worked great and the stuff is weather proof and very light.
Worked great and the stuff is weather proof and very light.