Year Three

Guest · Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:28 am

This will be my third year trying to attract martins. The first year I had my house (T-10) in the front yard because it was more open than the back. I had about 60 ft of open area on two sides and about twice as much on the other two. I had an SY pair around for about a week but they were eventually chased away (or taken) by a hawk. Last year I moved my housing to the back yard after removing several large trees to clear up some fly ways. I now had over 100 ft of open flyway on all four sided, I also added 4 natural gourds (with tunnels) under my house. My wife observed a couple of visitors at different times throughout the season but all I ever saw was a hawk perched on the house at different times. This year I have the same set up but also added another pole with 6 gourds on it. The previous two years I played the Dawn Song each morning but I leave for work before it is light and was not able to monitor it other than the weekends. My wife would turn it off when she left for work ~ 9:00 am. This year I am reluctant to play the dawn song other than when I will be there to monitor it. In the previous two years the DS seem to attract more hawks than martins. I have also not put out any decoys this year as well. I do play the DS on the weekends when I am there to watch and the good news is that I have not seen that many hawks so far. In my area the SY migration should be getting under way soon and the ASY martins have been showing up for over a month now. I did have an ASY pair fly by two weekends ago but neither bird landed or stuck around - other than that we have not seen any other martins. Martins are pretty scarce in our area and we rarely just see any at all even flying by. I figure that I probably have about another few weeks and then it will be on to year four. Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Bill in Oviedo FL

John Miller · Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:42 pm

I looked your location up -- looks to be outside Orlando -- there must be martins!

Sounds like you are doing everything right -- matter of time.

John M

Julio · Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:16 pm

Yup your area has a good number of martins. Setup a decoy pole near your housing and every 3 days rotate the decoys between your housing and pole. Persist and you will get your martins. Get at least 4-6 decoys if you have numerous visiting hawks.

Guest · Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:17 pm

Just a matter of time, luck and dogged persistence. Hang in there.

frushaj · Thu Mar 25, 2010 7:23 am

The second year after I had just one pair I put up a T-14 with SR holes and I had a lot of lookers but none landed so I ordered on 4 cavity door with round holes to put on the North side. As soon as I put it up they landed and started to check it out. I have left it that way and it seems to be the first cavities to be occupied. It may be because it faces the back of the house and they like to see us as much as we like to see them. If you do not have any RH you may want to try this. J

Guest · Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:02 pm

I am located a few miles east of Orlando. There are very few martin colonies in my area that I am aware of - the nearest one that I know of is about 5 miles away.

I have round entrances on my T-10 house - and Clinger Entrances on my gourds. I never see starling or house sparrows in my yard.

I have used decoys in the past but it actually seemed to attract the hawks to my housing. They were constantly being attacked and knocked upside down on the perch poles. Many times I would come home to find a hawk perched on the pole or even on top of a decoy. This year I have not had any decoys out yet and I have not seen a hawk perched on my housing. Not sure what to make out of it - I may try the decoys this weekend when I will be home all day to monitor the site.

Thanks for the responses - I will stay at it until I get them..... this year or the next.

Guest · Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:41 am

Make that year four...
The migration is all but over in my area (Central Florida) and I have not seen one martin this year - no visitors - nothing. Makes me wonder if there are any around my area at all....
I will leave the housing up until mid-summer and see if I get any visitors going the other way and try again next year.

Hanover Bill · Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:42 pm

Bill;

I am surprised that you have been unable to attract Martins. The old saying I have heard up here goes, if you live in the South you can just hang up an old shoe and you will get Martins. Obviously that isn't true.

I am also entering my third year of trying in Western Pa. There are no colonies anywhere close to me so I knew going in it was going to be difficult.

There are a lot of successful colonies to the north of me and I am counting on their success last year to possibly provide some SYs to start my colony.

Good luck to you for the remainder of this season and beyond.

Hanover Bill.