Are owl guards needed on BOTH sides of a modified TRIO?

[Lislou]

Hi there forum members - my husband is busy upstairs putting the green cage-like owl guards that I bought from Nature House.

From earlier postings this week you'll know I am very wary of aerial predators where I am and want to do all I can to protect my PM's if I get them at my new site.

So, he seems to think since we have a modified Trio with six 6X12 compartments and door stops covering the entrance holes on one side of the house that the owl guards are only necessary on the side of the house with open holes.

Is he right?

I believe that an owl could still hang on to one of the small ventilation holes on top of the Trio doors (on the back side of the house) and yank it off and grab the nestlings.

Who is right?

[Scully]

I am more concerned about all six openings being on the same side of the house, which will probably result in some male martins dominating more than one cavity. Is it still possible to switch three so that they open on the other side?

Mike Scully

[Lislou]

Well it's kind of for selfish reasons. I can't see the other side of the house. It faces an open field and we're mounting the house with brackets onto our wrought iron fence.

We had two houses we treated similarly at our old site in Indiana. Granted, not every cavity was occupied but we still had a number of pairs anf the houses faced our house so I had a great view of all the daily goings-on.

I'll bet I'm not the only LL that faces their housing so they'll have optimal views of the birds.

Any thought on the owl guard?

[M.Stephens]

I suggest you open up both sides of your trio. You'll have less porch domination issues and probably get more martins . I know you are wanting to see the birds when they come and go from your "side" of the house.
You can open three on one side and three on the other. As for the owl guards I would still put those up if you decide to keep only one side open.
Why not go ahead and use them? I have never had an owl attack before but they can easily pull doors off of a trio house.

[Matt F.]

Hi Lisa.
I have been guilty of the same thing - closing off the back sides of my housing, and only leaving open the sides I can keep an eye on.
You're being too hard on yourself, when you say it's for selfish reasons.
There's nothing selfish at all, about wanting to view as much of the Martins' activities as possible.
It's definitely more enjoyable to see everything going on (bickering, socializing, feeding babies, etc.), and at the same time, it allows you to keep a much closer eye out for potential problems, allowing you to react quicker to an issue if necessary.
There is the issue of potentially not having quite as high of an occupancy rate, but for some, that's a perfectly acceptable trade off.

As for the owl guards. First off, kudos for purchasing, and installing them.
Having the guard on the closed off side of your housing, may not be necessary, but since you already have it, I'd go ahead and put it on.
Your husband may be onto something, about an owl potentially grabbing onto one of the ventilation holes, and pulling doors off.
There may even be the possibilty of an owl getting a claw underneath the door, and pulling it out.
I'd say put 'em on both sides.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

My first house in the 1960s had 9 compartments, all facing our back porch. It was a homemade plywood house, and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the martins. I think that you will be fine with such an arrangement. Whether you get martins or not depends upon other things, not which way the holes are facing.
Good luck on the owl guards.

[GeneP]

How high is your wrought iron fence? How do you protect from climbing predators?

As far as owl guards go, it's not going to hurt to have more protection. I'm more concerned about mounting a martin house to a fence.