New Member with a Question

[bigfootokie]

This summer was my first experience with Martins and it was very relaxing and enjoyable. I placed a pole with a 12 compartment house and 4 gourds hanging below it back in March and saw a number of Martins come and go but none stayed so I really did not expect to start a colony this year. After April 1st I noticed a single male sitting on the house for long periods singing and making lots of other sounds. He would fly off sometimes for hours but continued to return daily and start singing again. Finally after about 5 days he returned with a mate and they proceeded to start a nest. I was in some disbelief because I had heard it was not common to have nesting pairs the first year a house was put up. Within a week or so several more pairs began to stay and by the end of the season all 4 gourds and at least 2 compartments in the house were occupied. It's hard to say how many fledged, but I am sure of at least 6 that I was able to watch. The last one fledged July 11th. Quite a show!!!

Sorry for being long winded but I really enjoyed my Spring and early Summer with my new little bug eating friends.

My question is about spacing. I have my pole located about 100 ft from my home and we are active in the area within 50 ft of the nests. I am adding a second pole with 12 gourds and I need to know how far to place my second pole from the first. I was thinking maybe 40 ft apart to the side which would keep it about 100 ft from my home and 80 ft from any trees.

I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Jim

[flyin-lowe]

Unless you absolutely need to there is no need to place the poles that far apart. Martins like to be in groups. So you can put the poles right next to each other as long as they can still be raised and lowered. I would leave enough room to be able to mow around and get in between.
Congrats on the first year success.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

They can be any desired distance, but its best to keep the poles as far from the trees as possible.

[John Miller]

Jim

Keep the flyways open foremost. I kind of like 40 feet apart, but as flyin low says, you can go very close too.

I like to watch the martins fly between setups at one site I manage that's got two poles about 40 feet. When I lower one unit to do nest checks or put crickets in compartments in cold weather, the martins often fly over to the other setup and wait there, and I don't they they would if both were very close.

Maybe just choose what's most open and what looks best and fits the space.

John M

[landonn]

Jim,

A rule that the PMCA told me was that it can be as close as long as the two house/gourd racks aren't touching each other and that you can mow around them. I think they said that most of their poles are 15 feet away from each other.

John, Not saying that you are wrong,but I think if your martins know you very well then they will go to a another setup very close while doing nest checks. My pair and subadults did this this year. They would even landed on the roost perch on top of the gourd rack while I was winding the rope around the winder.

Landonn

[CraigMo.]

I would put the new set up about 40 to 30 feet from your home so you can enjoy watching them from your deck or window as long as it has good fly-aways. And if you get takers on this set-up then the next year take a chance and move the pm house next to the gourd set-up and you can watch both at a closer distance.
Craig

[Sam Harris]

My 2 houses are 15 feet apart and offset 5 feet so they are not inline with each other. And they are only 15 feet from the side of my house due to trees.

[Guest]

You say this is your first year for putting up martin house and gourds. To your knowledge, how far away from your site are there other established colonies? estimate in miles. also did you use any attraction methods like the dawn song or decoys. thanks

[Joe Zorn]

Hey Jim! Congratulations on such a good first season. That's the kind of thing we used to see many years ago...back in the 70's and 80's. I used to kid my wife about putting her pots and pans on a pole and PM's would move in.

You don't hear those kinds of stories anymore. I don't know if there are so may of us landlords, or just less birds.

You certainly did it all right to have them take to you so quickly. Possibly. a nearby site is gone this year that has been up in years past. You were in the right place and benefited.

I've seen two houses on the same pole. There is an auto repair shop in Baton Rouge that has a pivot pole with a 12 hole house on each side of the pole, maybe 20' high. The birds seemed to love it and appear to be filling both each year.

[Suzette McGowen]

You didn't mention what type of a 12 compartment house you have. If it is a house with 6 x6 compartments you might consider enlarging them to 6 x 12. We had much better success with our house once we enlarged the compartments the second year. We had residents the first year, but it filled up quickly when we expanded them.

Since you are adding a pole you should have plenty of housing to offer. If you enlarge the compartments they will be more attractive to starlings, so you should consider starling resistant entrances if you now have round.

Good luck, they are fascinating to observe and interact with!

[mboike]

From the wording of your question, I picked up that you were concerned about putting your martin houses too close to human activity. Don't worry about that. Martins don't mind at all being close to people.

Yesterday, we were busy putting up another house about 15 feet from one with the last remaining nest. We were causing quite a commotion - mixing cement, messing around with the house and pole sections, arguing about how to do it. Through it all, Mom and Dad kept feeding the young ones, totally ignoring us.

[Joe Zorn]

These birds are really something, huh Peggy!

Back in May, I had one leave it's house about 30 ft from my patio, fly directly toward me sitting in the patio chair. He was beautiful. When he got about 5' from me he lifted his flight, so to miss the top of my head by about 6", and have me a little chirp. Not an "intruder squawk".

It was a Saturday morning, and I was finally able to just sit out with a cup of coffee and watch them feeding the nests.

He was watching me too!

I've suspected other birds of flying by me as a way of greeting, but this was was classic. They really do like humans close by, and seem to appreciate our efforts and protection.

[bigfootokie]

Thanks to all who replied to my post. I now feel I have several options which will work for me and the martins.

The only colony I am aware of in my area is one about 6 miles west of me but I am sure there are a few houses erected closer. I live in the country and have a 2 acre pond behind my house which provides many bugs and water for the birds. I do use the Starling Resistant Entrances and did notice several starlings looking at the housing prior to the martins arrival, but none entered the nest cavity. I thought about trying to attract martins with recordings but realized they were already looking at my setup by then.

The compartments are 6x6 in the house and 6x8 in the gourds on my original pole and the new pole will have 12 gourds 9.5" in diameter. I am going to consider enlarging the house compartments as suggested since it was not as popular as the slightly larger gourds.

Again, I sincerely appreciate your responses and congrats for my first years success.

Jim

[Joe Zorn]

Jim, just as an add-on. I still have one very old 24 room wooden house that has 24 - 6 x 6 rooms. The martins do well in them.

Now, when I build a house, I try to go to at least 6 x 9. But I've gone through the process of enlarging and then coming back to the original 6" rooms. Starlings love larger rooms. They'll fight for a 12" room. They do not like the 6" room.

Several of my nests in that house do just fine in the small rooms.

[Caroline94535-ND]

My first colony was on an AF base. I had two poles, maybe 12 feet apart. One held eight gourds; the smaller one, three.