About four miles from me there are about three martin houses with that look of people just put them up and what ever bird nests in there is fine by them. One house that had martins for the last few years now looks abandoned and taken over by sparrows. You can even see through it as if the wood has rotted or it was just poorly built. The two other are the plastic cheap ones and one is leaning about one to two feet and I think it has martins. None of these houses have a guard.
Drive about another mile and there are two other martin houses both I think put up after I put my house up. One is the same type of wooden house I told you about earlier and it looks like it is covered with martins. The second house is a trio and I saw a male martin on the porch of it sitting in February. None of these houses have a guard.
So here I still wait with an empty martin house and gourds that aren't falling apart, with a straight pole, with a guard, with monitored housing and still I have no martins other than the ones that fly over hundreds of feet in the air talking.
it must be the suroundings around your house I hope you findout what it is and get some pms
2015 69 pairs 418 eggs 396 fledged
2019 I have 148 openings now
2016 100 pairs 600 babies fledged added another t-14 and have 126 openings now
2015 Jun 24 360 babies and 58 eggs also found one that had died
2017 632 babies 11died and 20 were killed by hawks
2015 74 pairs and 9 eggs 5/14
2010 3pairss
]JOINED PMCA JUNE 6,2018
2018 651 babies 5 hawk kills 11 floater kills 25 died in houses and 610 fledged
pmlover wrote:it must be the suroundings around your house I hope you findout what it is and get some pms
Many years ago this site had martins. There even was a big pine tree that was close to the old heath house that was cut down a couple years ago. There are basically only two young trees that are about 25 feet tall and about 60 feet away that weren't there when martins did nest here. Could it be these two trees?
It is possible it could be. Can you move your housing to a more open location? 60 ft is the minimum suggested distance between a martin house and a tree, but I think more open a site is, better chances of attracting martins. Can you post a picture of your site? We all have our opinions here about best way to get martins. The day we cut a 10 ft wisteria big bushy tree ( which I dearly loved but was just in the wrong place for our hopeful martin colony) was the same day we got martins. May or may not have had anything to do with our 1st pair that year, but we think it did.
It could be the trees but doubt it with just 2 at 25' tall. I have seen alot worse. Get a copy of the Dawnsong and blast it as loud as you can and draw some of those martins from the slums is what I would try and do.
Martin Colony History: Area is rural. Offer 28 compartments...metal housing (Lonestar Goliad) & Supergourds all w/crescent entrance holes. Purple martins are abundant here and eager for quality, well maintained, safe housing. Expect near 100% occupancy this season.
I am building a new colony too. I offer 28 cavities. I have a metal house (Lonestar Goliad/deep compartments) & Supergourds, and of course a predator guard. It is a purple martin paradise. I have only two adult pairs roosting so far this year (hoping for more).
About 200 yards from me is a plastic house (small compartments), no predator guard & full of house sparrows. The owner neglects the housing. It has about a dozen adult purple martins. Last year, even though over-run by house sparrows, martins successfully bred here. I saw numerous fledglings on this house at the end of last season.
Purple martins exhibit tremendous site fidelity. If martins have bred successfully at a particular site, they will return to that same site the following year. Even if there is better housing nearby.
Hang in there, eventually we will have thriving colonies.
are the other people closer to water? I have 2 apple trees 40 feet from my racks. guy down the street has know trees .he tried for 8 years to get martins. I got mine in the first year. 4 houses down to me is 2 ponds. across the street a creek. I am 4 miles closer to water then he is. I consider this the only reason I picked up birds before he. and I am around the clock sparrow patrol. so water and trash bird free housing I think is 2 important key factors.
chickadee wrote:are the other people closer to water? I have 2 apple trees 40 feet from my racks. guy down the street has know trees .he tried for 8 years to get martins. I got mine in the first year. 4 houses down to me is 2 ponds. across the street a creek. I am 4 miles closer to water then he is. I consider this the only reason I picked up birds before he. and I am around the clock sparrow patrol. so water and trash bird free housing I think is 2 important key factors.
There are about 7 ponds within a 1/2 mile of me. The closest pond is about 200 yards from the house.
