Wing Entrapment - 0 Landlord - 3

[APB]

I saw a scary sight for the first time yesterday evening. My PM's were out flying high and making lots of noise, so I went out to enjoy them.

When I got out to the gourds, there was a ASY male who was in the SREH door of the tunnel. He was sitting at a funny angle. I knew right away that I had my first wing entrapment!

I got the gourd rack down ASAP and sure enough he had one wing out and one still inside. I took the clean-out cover off and checked inside before I stuck my hand in and sure enough, there was a female sitting inside. I let here out...save #1.

I started working on the trapped guy and he was really wedged in there. I opened the circle entrance above the SREH and low and behold there was ANOTHER ASY male in there! I got him out the circle entrance...save #2!

I gently worked the stuck male out of the SREH opening. He did not appear to have any major injury. I let him rest in my hand for a little bit, then he attempted to fly off, but only fluttered on the ground. I caught him again and I was going to the garage to get a box to put him in and give him a little rehab when he managed to get out of my hand again. this time he flew away, low to the ground, but he flew. I still wasn't sure if he was OK.

He could not have been stuck in there very long as I had been watching them all day and only a short time before, the gourds were all clear and everyone was out on the wing.

About a half-hour later, there was an ASY male perched back on the same gourd. I grabbed my binoculars and his feathers were all scuffed up where he had been stuck in the entrance. He was fine...save #3!!

Now I have to give a TON of credit to this forum! Because of the forum, I had changed my set-up so I could lower my gourd rack and be able to release this guy in short order. I also would not have realized what was going on without all of you sharing your experiences, losses, and lessons learned.

That said, I say:

WE SAVED THREE PURPLE MARTINS!!!


Thanks to all who share their experiences on here to help educate and prepare the rest of us to handle such situations!

Gratefully,

Allen Bruck

[John Miller]

Allen

I'm glad you were able to spot this in time. Indeed, daily walk unders or walk "arounds" are important.

I'm a little contrary on this issue in that I think the risk of entrapment can be greatly reduced -- or should be -- in all housing. Some folks may say that it can't be avoided or it doesn't happen at all at particular sites, but the risk can be greatly reduced at all sites, I believe.

S&K has begun offering a wing guard in some of its tunnels. Scott D here has shown how to make a guard for a Troyer tunnel, and so on. Older Troyer horizontal gourds also need to have some modification done to the gourd inner lip when using a tunnel to eliminate having a "foyer." You can search the archives for different approaches -- every gourd tunnel is a little different.

But glad you caught this in time, and glad there are enough martins at a site in Michigan that they are fighting to get in!

John Miller

[Matt F.]

[EDIT: I got sidetracked, and strayed away from the subject of this thread]
Great job on being so observant Allen!
That was a potential disaster averted, thanks to your attentiveness.

[Peggy Riley]

Good job, Allen!

[Terry]

Yes, Allen good job!
I used to have at least one entrapment every year.
I don't know what type of entrance's you have. But i have many of the tunnels John mentioned with the wing entrapment guard's.
I have also modified other's making the entrance thicker by about an inch.
All my entrance's are cresent's and clinger SREH's.
I have not had one entrapment since, and i know Scott D. has had many also. I believe he used a metal pipe strap inside many of his, maybe he'll read this and tell ya more about how his are.

It's the thin wall's of these entrance's that allow the bird's to get turned, mostly when they are fighting. They get a wing wedged in the entrance and are unable to free themselve's.
More time's than not they die before they can be released.
Again great job finding him before it was too late!

[rdhd]

I

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Randy, I would encourage you to use the accepted methods of making the entrances thicker. These do work. Rounding out the corners may help, but let me remind you that wing entrapment was first noticed when only round holes were used, rounding out the corners is definitely the last solution.

Wing entrapment is not a real common problem, but it always occurs when the entrance has a lot of space on each side, such as houses usually have , and wide tunnels have. A narrow tunnel usually stops wing entrapment.

[John Miller]

Randy

As Emil says, rounding the corners may help a little, but really needs to be a thicker entrance, ideally a bit of a snug tunnel. There's not much you can do to a gourd in use. If it were aluminum, you could put some rubbery automotive weather stripping on the inside as a sort of bumper guard, but that material may not stick to plastic. You could order the PMCA wing protectors and use on a plastic crescent, as these are attached with tiny screws, but I suggest just daily inspections this season as the gourd probably is in use.

If you want to make guards off season for gourds with SREH openings, you can make some from three inch diameter, thin wall PVC tube. I cut off about a one-inch wide ring. Then I split it in two, or I might first make one side a little taller, experimenting initially with the placement, depending on the gourd type. (see photo)

I just rest the arch directly on the inside porch or floor of a gourd tunnel, and glue it flush against the wall of the gourd over the SREH, or if it's a gourd with a porch that's not too wide, I might drop the sides of the arch over the sides of the porch -- as shown here on the interior porch of an excluder gourd. But make sure it's not obstructing the top of the SREH -- I try to back it off just a little. I've probably got 40 or more gourds out there in use with variations of this at different sites, and none this way have had entrapment that I'm aware of. S&K does something similar (only glued more neatly) in some of its gourd tunnels. Scott D does something similar with flat bar aluminum in Troyer tunnels. You may come up with something even better.
John

[Guest]

I just had my first wing entrapment. He flew away but landed about a hundred yards away in the tall grass and weeds. Could not find him for any rehab. The SREH door on my alamo has blood and feathers on it. His wing was scuffed up bad but not broken. I noticed him as soon as I got home from work. I leave before dawn. Can I inspect my houses with a flashlight after dark?

[John Miller]

You should be able to walk nearby at night and shine a flash light up toward the house without causing them to flush. If however, they are not used to someone walking right under the housing, I'd try to be quiet about it. John

[Scott D.- La]

Thurst,
Yes, I do nightly inspections shining a bright flashlight and the Martin's are not bothered in anyway. I usually make my round's about 9.30 at night.

[Guest]

Thanks