Raccoon Attacks public colony at Ford in Louisville, KY

[LarryMelcher/KY]

First... I have pinched the end of my finger. It is bandaged and a metal finger protector... so forgive me for few words. I'm using backspace on nearly every word.

I got a call last night at 11 pm. Nightshift friends of mine called with the news.
One guy saw the raccoon get past the five gallon bucket predator guard that hung under the gourd rack similar to how most t-14's have the guard mounted on the house. The bucket was hung "floppy" under the gourds. Anyway, he got past it.

The witness said he would reach in, bite their head, and drop them to the ground where he later ate them. We can't bring guns to work (stupid rule... kidding) or he would have been stopped.

The good thing about this... I have several people watching and enjoying the colony. Several are sincerely concerned. I have people noticing martins. And now I have guuys that are mad and we will stop the predation.

I MUST stop this raccoon from his "easy meals" or I will lose the colony and have to start all over. This site of 40 nests are... was nearly 100% full.

[LarryMelcher/KY]

We lost about 10 birds out of 60 or 80. I don't have an exact number of "tennants" until eggs are in each nest at this public site.

[Louise Chambers]

Larry,

I am so sorry your work site got hit, but very glad someone noticed so things could be corrected before any more birds were lost. Will they let you bring a havahart trap in to capture the raccoon?

Re the bucket guard, perhaps it was not large enough, if this is a very large raccoon. Is the top of the bucket 4 ft or higher above ground? Are there any grips the raccoon can use to get by the bucket (rims, handles, etc) - or does anything project from the pole below the bucket (winch handle, rope cleat) that aids the raccoon?

I can only suggest moving the guards higher, but that may be a useless suggestion if they are already at a good height - or a larger, smoother guard.

Louise

[Matt@atx]

I am sorry to hear this Larry. how maddening to hear of any instance where your birds are cornered and killed even though its supposed to be the natural way of things. It still hurts.
possibly give this guy an even easier meal with a portable cage trap placed on the ground near the rack pole. Good thing is coons like all kinds of food and a lot of it and I don't see him passing that easy meal up.
pack that guy up in the truck and relocate. Sounds like you can't shoot in that area.

[LarryMelcher/KY]

I have a contractor that sets traps for the coons in the building to put one out by the colony. He's an old friend of mine, so I know the trap will be set today.

I am/ have made large predator guards as a quick fix. They are made from plastic, 55 gallon drums. I cut the bottom off. Now the 55 gallon drum is only about 8 inches tall and I have it sliced from the center out ( only a radius cut, not all the way in half ) I will hang these loosly with wire about a foot from the bottom of the lowest gourds. Hopefully, I will find a dead raccoon when he slips off of it and falls to the ground. Maybe I should place some sharp objects for him to fall on... (kidding)

I know this coon will be back. I am so thankful that I have been very vocal about the purple martins. ...... People really do care and together I feel confident that this site will once again become a safe place for martins.

[jerleen]

I also have a mystery at my colony. We are missing 12 babies and about 4 eggs. We could not figure out because in two of the nests there was one or two babies left but eggs were gone.
We have netting wrapped around as a guard and have not seen anything caught in it so we know it is not a snake.
Can a racoon climb up the netting without getting their feet tangled? We have never had this problem before and last night when we did our nest check, we had two more babies gone. We did find one baby on the ground but none of the others, so something carried them off or ate them.
We have a Lone Star gourd rack and one of the gourds is on the wire cable, can a racoon balance on this cable and still reach in and get the babies. The other gourds were attached to the metal arms so I could see it climbing on it.
Please help with any ideas, we have a trap that we will set tonight and see if we can catch a racoon if that is what is getting our babies.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Yes, a racoon can climb over the netting, it would help him hold onto the pole. I don't think his feet would get hung up in the netting. Racoons can climb a round steel pole easily, they are good climbers.

You may have a subbie male throwing out the babies & eggs, they are famous for doing that. That is another idea.

[jerleen]

Thanks, and I did think that maybe the SY's might be the culprits but that is a lot of birds and we were not finding them on the ground and we walk under the rack and house every day to check for babies on the ground. I did find one on the ground and it was alive and we put it back in the nest and the parents are raising it and did not throw it back out.
I hope we will catch the coon tonight if that is what is happening. So sad to loose so many birds and not know how to stop it when we have taken all the precautions with the snake guards and keeping a watchful eye on them.
I have not seen this happening in our trio house just the gourd rack.
I have one pair that is raising 7 in a gourd under the house and I have spoiled her to putting out some crickets in the feeder tray and she loves the food supply so close. I know I must be careful to not do it too much and then not have them hunt and feed their young. Of course the Mockingbird loves the crickets too.
Thanks again.

[Mary Dawnsong]

Hi Jerleen,

Though not well known as martin predators, squirrels will also climb poles and will eat eggs and young. I doubt that netting would stop them.

See this article for more info and photos:
http://purplemartin.org/forumarchives/a ... uirrel.htm

My best, Mary

[Guest]

Larry, I am sorry you lost some of your birds. I know you are upset. This morning (before I read this post) I watch several of your videos on you tube. The way you protect your birds is amazing. This must have been some acrobatic racoon to get around your defenses. Again, sorry for your loss.
Regards,
Johnny

[flyin-lowe]

Larry
I am sure you have seen mine but it seems to be effective and it didn't cost me a dime. I stopped by a construction site and they guys gave me a piece of 12 inch PVC that is a little over 4 foot tall. I split it down the middle and made some hinges for one side and buckles for the other to pull it tight. There is 4 foot between the top and bottom buckle/hinge. I put a coat of slick black paint on it and last year I found some muddy raccoon prints part way up but no where near getting around it. The other thing I like about this guard is that it goes around my pole and winch all at the same time. That keeps my kids and nieces and nephews from playing with the winch.

There is no doubt you will come up with something to protect your martins.

[NancyinEnidOK]

Larry, what happened to your colony is horrible, and you will no doubt find a way to protect your Martins. I know that guns cannot be taken to your work place, and that pretty much makes sense -- but was wondering if bows and arrows might be permitted -- or other rather extreme measures -- especially if there are indications that this raccoon may pose public health risks such as rabies? That raccoon may be as dangerous to people as it is to the Martins. Maybe Animal Control could help. Anyway, good luck with this situation!

[Kathy in VA]

I'm so sorry about your raccoon attack and martin losses.
Hinged tubular PVC predator guard is a great idea; I'd recommend putting a cover at the top of the tube to keep out any birds, nestlings or fledglings from falling down inside and being trapped (dying.) Here is one way to do it with wood...
http://www.chuckspurplemartinpage.com/predgard.htm (scroll down near bottom of instructions)
I would think even stuffing rags or foam rubber down in the top when you replace the guard after each nest-check would work until you have time to make a permanent split-cap with a cut-out that snugly fits around your pole and winch cable (a rigid cap would also stop any snakes that might crawl under the PVC at the bottom and spiral up the pole inside the PVC tube.)
Your trapper probably already knows this, but I'll mention it just in case: I have heard sticky buns/honey buns or marshmallows are good coon baits--but they won't attract cats as much as when using tuna or cat food.
Thanks for all the good martin conservation and education work you do! You're a great spokesman for martins! I thought of you (and your last year's MartinFest speech) a couple weeks ago when I did a "Public Nest Check" for a man that came by!

[LarryMelcher/KY]

Once again, typing is a real chore with the end of my left middle finger bandaged up... healing very well, stupid that I pinched the tip of it at work...
Anyway, I would type more... I'll keep it short.
Thanks for the nice comments. I am no more special than anyone else out there. Predator attacks can sneek up on you.. on anyone. This attack makes me understand why many landlords add a solar electric fence type of protection.

I love the hinged, 12 inch pipe idea !! This is something that you could easily install and remove. I may make me a few. This would be great to add to Bluebird/Tree Swallow.... single nest boxes once eggs are laid. I have had sevreal attacks on these types of nests last year from... what I think may be a cat someone dropped off.

Glad I shared this post. Good replies.... We all learn from sharing and it is the birds that benefit from it.

[KathyF]

So, did you get him? Huh, huh, did you, did you????

[jmeyer]

Yes did you? Inquiring minds want to know.

[jerleen]

:We put a trap out last night to catch a coon if that is what attacking our martins but did not have any luck, will try again tonight.
It is supposed to rain here in Texas for a couple of days so will be thinking about whether to lower the gourd rack and house. Also will be trying to feed my birds if the rain lasts for two days like they say it will.

So terrible that the martins have so many predators.
thanks
Joleen:

[Matt F.]

I am no more special than anyone else out there.

You do a LOT of awesome work Larry, on behalf of the Martins, and Martins landlords everywhere.
Sorry about the sneak attack on your work colony. If there's anyone that'll nail the problem, it's you.
Hope your finger heals up quickly amigo!