Preparing for Hawks

[Eddie McKnight]

I probably lost 25% of my colony last year to small hawks. Mid season, some of you may remember, I wrapped all my gourd racks and house racks with 2 x 4 mesh wire and stopped the bleeding mostly.

I had another thought..... Most hawk attacks caught martins sitting on porches. Of course the wire stopped a lot of that. But has anyone (especially you, Emil) ever thought of designing some kind of porch which may have a cover or some way for a martin to make a quick escape and not have to wiggle in to an SREH while the hawk attacks? I know that almost any structure that would give a quick escape would also add something for martins to rest on, so it may be a waste of time.

Just a thought, and hoping there are some ideas out there.....

[Dave Duit]

Hi Eddie,
I sympathize with you. I don't have any ideas for the quick escape tunnel entrances, but I do know that there are a few alternatives. If you can get a few tree swallows to sit up house close to your colony without them taking over, they seem to be an excellent early warning caller to the martins that a hawk is near by. Another tip is to at all possible provide the housing with plenty of open area around your colony. The third tip I have gained in the past posts is to be seen in your yard as much as possible, hawks don't like to be seen by humans, especially in their hunting grounds. I don't know if attaching ribbons for movement under the housing helps, but it has been tried. I hope you find a solution or maybe others can help. Good luck.

[Dave Duit]

Hi Eddie,
I sympathize with you. I don't have any ideas for the quick escape tunnel entrances, but I do know that there are a few alternatives. If you can get a few tree swallows to sit up house close to your colony without them taking over, they seem to be an excellent early warning caller to the martins that a hawk is near by. Another tip is to at all possible provide the housing with plenty of open area around your colony. The third tip I have gained in the past posts is to be seen in your yard as much as possible, hawks don't like to be seen by humans, especially in their hunting grounds. I don't know if attaching ribbons for movement under the housing helps, but it has been tried. I hope you find a solution or maybe others can help. Good luck.

[MB12RING]

There was a pic of a "ghost house" on here a while back that had protected porches, it looked alot like what you are describing... it looked like it would definately offer added protection for PM's hanging out on their porhes

[M.Stephens]

MB12RING, Is this the article on the "ghost house" you are looking for?

This is definitely one of the best ways to prepare for hawks!

Bernie Nikolai's article doesn't have his picture of his martin housing because this is a 2007 thread, but later in the thread there are good pictures of the "ghost house".

Kenny Fecker's house is his own design, called a GHOST for Great Horned Owl Stopper. There was an article about his colony and projects in Update 16(1), Winter 2007.

http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewt ... highlight=

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I tried some long tunnels, but they were different, they had the entrance on the wrong end. The martins used them. In fact a few years ago, the first one that I tried had 7 eggs, and 7 babies hatched, but I didn't do any nest checks later. The first tunnel was 7inches long, with the entrance actually about an inch inside the gourd. I made a small ramp so that the martin had no problem exiting.

Both Scott D. and I tried shorter tunnels (about 3in)with the entrance in the back of the tunnel, and the martins actually seemed to like them, and most were quickly used.

I don't have much of a hawk problem, they migrate thru before the martins build their nests. However, this is an idea that may work good. The martins for the most part can escape out of sight quickly. During the day, the female often sits in the tunnel with only her head poking out.

A hawk could still reach into a 3in tunnel, but I doubt that it would try to reach into a deeper tunnel if it cannot see the martin struggling to enter.

There is one other idea however, most martins do not try to enter if a hawk approaches, they try to fly away.

[Eddie McKnight]

Thanks for the discussion. The porch protection with wire on the ghost is a clever idea. Can't picture that on a gourd rack unless there was just a tube of wire on the way in to the porch.

I guess still the ideal remedy, though, would be a wire wrap for each gourd or house rack. I have those from last year, so probably will continue beginning now to protect early arrivals. There are lots of small hawks still here in coastal SC, as I see them attacking around the bird feeders.

Any more ideas, keep them coming.

Emil, I am going to try to lengthen some of my gourd entrance tunnels which are 3" pvc with crescents - basically adding a bit of tunnel length out front of the crescent entrance.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Eddie, I have about 30 gourds with the added tunnel, just as you described. I even put porches on them by cutting about 3/4 of the way thru a 5in long piece of pvc, and using a heat gun to bend the pvc pipe to form a 2in porch. That makes a durable porch.

[Eddie McKnight]

I remember when you posted that picture. Would it be too much trouble for you to post it again or should I search the threads?

[Tim Stover]

i had a lot of hawk attacks last year mine done like emil said they flew trying to escape everytime never seen none trying to get back in lots of them got caught bottle rockets fireworks worked well

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Eddie, I post too many photos, and don't have room, so I regularly delete some from the old posts. Here are a couple photos of an extension. Please note that there is only one entrance, the outside (that looks like an entrance) is 2in high, its just there for visual protection of the martin inside the extension This is an old used gourd, that was used last year.

These extensions are made from 4in S&D lightweight PVC, the 4in fits the S&K tunnels real well when the bottom is heated to make it flat.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Eddie, when I first made one of these, I noticed that it raised the floor which would not work and the martins probably could not enter. I then cut out a 2in square from the floor of the extension so that the distance from the floor to the top of the entrance would remain the same.

[Steve Kroenke]

Eddie,

The Accipiter hawks, both sharp-shinned and Cooper’s, are excellent hunters in dim light and will use such conditions to ambush purple martins as the martins are going to roost in the evenings. A distracted martin sitting on a porch or trying to get through a sreh can be an easy target for one of these hawks if the hawk can sneak inside the colony.

If the martin does not see the hawk coming, then the hawk may swoop up to a gourd or house and grab the martin right off any porch/perch. The martin may not fly away because the martin does not see the hawk coming in the first place; the martin is attacked while “off guard”. These hawks can attack in seconds, snatch martin, and be gone before you know it.

When martins have been exposed to significant Accipiter hawk predation pressures, the martins may become highly nervous and experience what I call is “hawk fright” behavior. They will quit socializing around their colonies, may circle overhead, and often return late in the afternoons just prior to roosting. They may make several abortive dives toward their housing and then pull up abruptly. This may go on a few times before they finally all dive down at once and try to quickly get inside their nests. In other situations, the entire colony will circle overhead and just before dark, the martins dive down and try to quickly enter their cavities. At my large super colonies, several hundred martins would form a huge “super cell” over their housing and circle warily. Then they would dive down all at once to their nests.

It is at this time when an Accipiter hawk that has learned to hunt the martins may come in low and flare up to a gourd rack or house and grab a surprised martin off a porch just as the martin is trying to get inside. If the martin has to struggle some to get through a sreh, then that short delay of a few seconds may allow the hawk time to score a kill. Again, the martin may not even see the hawk coming until its too late and the hawk plucks the martin off the porch.

If the martin sees the hawk coming, the martin will usually dive down from the gourd rack/house and try to out fly or out turn its enemy. Whether the martin succeeds often depends on how close the hawk has gotten before the martin is aware of the danger. If the hawk catches the martin, it will usually be close to the housing and sometimes even close to the ground. These hawks usually don’t chase martins for long distances, particularly in the evenings.

Most of the Accipiter attacks at my colonies in the evenings have been around the colony and not when the martins are on porches. The hawk tries to catch a martin just as the martin bolts to escape or is diving down to the colony.

Accipiter hawks will also attack early in the mornings when it is still somewhat dark and catch unwary martins on the porches or in a quick chase close to the housing. The martins may or may not see the hawk coming and the hawk succeeds because of stealth. I am usually outside and walking around our colonies at this time and this activity may keep Accipiters from making attacks, but not always.

These hawks will sit on gourd racks or house tops and wait for martins to appear in the entrances or on porches. The hawk will ambush any unwary martin and often score a kill under such conditions. I have seen these hawks perch on my gourd racks, “slenderize” their bodies to look as inconspicuous as possible, and wait for any martin to come out or fly away. The hawk will be on that unwary or surprised martin in a fraction of a second.

And Accipiter hawks will attack at other times during day, particularly migrant hawks passing over and they see an opportunity. Martins socializing around the housing or flying near by may be dived upon by a high flying Accipiter.

If most of your Accipiter hawk attacks are occurring in the evenings at roosting time and the hawks are trying to grab unwary martins off porches, then using a wire fencing barrier around the gourd racks is probably the best defense under most conditions. I believe you are doing this. As long as the martins can quickly get through the fencing, land on their gourd porches, and then quickly enter their cavities, the hawks may be thwarted. However, the fencing will not stop the hawks from catching the martins in the air.

I don’t know if you have tried using martin decoys, but I have used a martin decoy pole located about 75 feet south of my martin colony. Accipiter hawks and merlins have hit these decoys a number of times first and this has allowed the real martins to escape several times. Also decoys placed on gourd racks and house tops may deflect any attacking Accipiter long enough for a martin to escape either by flying away or entering its nest. In 2011, I watched a male Cooper’s hawk try to sneak up on my martin colony real early in the morning. He saw my martin decoy pole first, flew to it and grabbed one of the decoys. I watched him hang upside down as he tried to pull the decoy off!

I mainly keep Accipiters away from our colonies in the evenings by patrolling around the area and insuring that I am highly visible. Accipiters will sit in trees and watch a martin colony from a distance, particularly at roosting time. Our sites are open but trees are located about 100 yards away. So the hawks can see me walking around. This has worked, but not always and some bold Accipiters will still make brazen attacks with me in the yard. I have intercepted hawks and have gotten within ten feet of them before they finally saw me and “got out of Dodge”!

In South Carolina, you would probably have migratory Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks and these hawks would be the main problems for your martin colony. These migrants could attack your martins up until late April though most would be gone by that time.

You most likely have resident Cooper’s hawks and these would probably prey on any martin fledglings later in June and July. There may be some nesting sharp-shinned hawks but these hawks are much more common farther north, particularly in Canada.

By using the wire fencing around your gourd racks, you are probably keeping most Accipiter hawks from grabbing martins off the gourd porches. You can’t stop all the attacks and if martins bolt out in front of an Accipiter that has the element of surprise on its side, then the hawk will often catch a martin. Also using decoys to deflect hawk attacks is a good idea and you just maintaining a high visibility around your colony at the dangerous times in the evenings and early mornings may keep many hawks at bay. And keeping the area around your colony as open as possible to prevent hawks from hiding in trees or using vegetation to sneak up on the martins also helps to minimize Accipiter hawk attacks.

I have lost untold numbers of adult and fledgling martins to Accipiter hawks over the years and can empathize with you.

Good luck in 2012.

Steve

[Eddie McKnight]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I am doing the best I can with the wire cages.

And you are right, Steve, I have been standing 30 feet or so in front of my colony at dusk, when a hawk would come very fast from a tree 100 feet away and dive right over my head and grab a martin from a porch. That's when I added the wire cages, since the hawks became so bold.

Thanks for reposting your pictures, Emil.

Good luck everyone!!

[Dick Sherry]

Eddie, a lot of good advice has been provided. I think the key to protecting the porch areas for the martins is to have the wire mesh at least 6 inches or more from the porch edge. This keeps the hawk from being able to reach through and grab a martin. The separation will give the martin more time to enter a compartment, if they choose to do that. But most will try to get away, and the cage helps provide a barrier between the martin and the hawk.

I hope this year goes much better for you.

[bbillyc]

What size mesh are you using?

[Eddie McKnight]

I use a lightweight 2x4 mesh with the 4 inches laying horizontal. The birds had no problem getting through them last year.

[bbillyc]

That's great, thank you. Bill