Ideal Martin location but no colony...

[Carlton]

You WILL be successful. You are doing nothing wrong. A lot of this is luck and being patient. Make sure you keep any HS or EUS out of your housing and have a good predator guard on each pole.

Play the Dawnsong CD. I DO think it helps.

I find in DE that martins do not seem to have a preference for houses over gourds. Either one will work.

Hopefully this is your year! Keep us posted and relax and observe.

Carl

[ToyinPA]

Don't forget milkweed for the Monarch Butterflies. Try to plant what is local type milkweed for your area.

Reports are we've lost 90% of them now. The US Government is going to support trying to save them. They are asking farmers to plant milkweed & other flowers for them.

I had thought of Kathy's suggestion after I posted last night. A section of wild plants to help increase bug population. We're losing many other bugs to all these pesticides, fracking (they take too much water out of rivers/streams where bugs hatch), drought, etc.

Toy in PA

[KathyF]

That's a great idea Kathy...
I have some friends here in central Texas that help people get Land Management tax status as opposed to cattle or forage/hay.
They recommend what is called strip/stripe mowing. Cut a 4 ft path, skip 4ft and let it grow out, move over another 4 ft path and cut.

Next month cut the part that you let grow out and swap out the paths every other month.

It is suppose to give quail/dove/small mammals a hiding and eating place in the open pastures. cuts down on mowing too.

Thanks.. my husband owns Ozark Landcare and does this for a living too here in MO.
I guess I shouldn't have scared Mitch by saying, "1/2 of his land" (I just tend to "go all in" when I do stuff)...maybe he could just start with strips like you suggest.
Mitch, if you have some extra bedrooms, we're all going to pack a suitcase and come to your place and set you up for martins this year.

We have 2 quail covies here now - usually unheard of on only 23 acres, but we have so much winter thermal cover, predator cover and food supply here, the quail move in here because the properties that surrounds us is all dedicated to growing hay only.

Indian Grass and Big Blue provide great cover for quail (and for Kathy) as well as lots of other stuff. (sorry for all the pictures, I really dig this stuff )

[Connie]

Mitch,
What a beautiful place, looks like martin heaven to me!
I think time will solve your problems. If I were a martin I would be very happy to raise a family at your site. Shucks, I would be elated to raise a human family there. You have a beautiful place. I wish I had just half of your acreage. Hang tight, they're coming.

[Mitch Booth]

Mitch,
What a beautiful place, looks like martin heaven to me!
I think time will solve your problems. If I were a martin I would be very happy to raise a family at your site. Shucks, I would be elated to raise a human family there. You have a beautiful place. I wish I had just half of your acreage. Hang tight, they're coming.

Connie,

Thank you so much for the compliments. Yes we absolutely love the privacy and location. We just built a pool cabana out back with an outdoor fireplace, kitchen and 70" TV screen above the fireplace. I would love to put up a 28 unit Trendsetter in the backyard but my wife would kill me!! I know it should ideally go closer to the two gourd racks on the other side of the driveway but I wanted to be able to see my birds from the backyard too as we'll be spending the majority of our time back there this Summer.

Mitch

Mitch

[Carolyn C]

Wow, that was great looking at your property. Your area looks better than mine for martins but I still get them. It was hard to tell for sure, but is your martin house set closer to the driveway than the water? You would think the water would attract them. Look at me--- acting like I know something! Lol

[Bill Pec]

Hi Mitch,

A few years ago I visited your office to introduce myself and discuss Purple Martins. I am visiting my daughter in Akron from February 11th through February 17th. I'm willing to visit your martin site to offer my opinions and provide help. I have functioned as a PMCA Mentor for years and would be happy to help you. Let me know.

Bill Pec

[Mitch Booth]

Hi Carolyn,

Yes the gourd rack sits about 10 feet off the driveway and could be considerably closer to the water. The reason I put it closer to the house was so I could have better viewing of the birds from my front porch.

My biggest obstacle is my wife!!! She absolutely hates the looks of the gourd racks. If it were up to me I would probably have 5 or 6 racks up going around the perimeter of the pond. I do have the one Watersedge 8 unit house and really don't care for the design and a telescopic pole. I ran it by my wife about putting it up next to the two gourd racks and she shot me down immediately!! I then asked about moving the T-14 from way across the lake to this side of the house and she shot that down too. She gets real excited every year when I pull the ground stakes out of the ground and store the poles and gourd racks in our other garage. She simply just doesn't like the looks of them.

I know last year I had an ASY male show up (may have been my SY from the prior year that successfully fledged young) land on my gourd rack. I only had one rack up at the time. The problem was I had a camera that I was installing to monitor the interior of the nest and hadn't securely fastened the wire coming down and I think this may have frightened him off. I also had mirrors, decoys and mud all over all the gourds. Like I said previously I think I'm trying too hard. The general consensus is that I have too nice of a setup and location to not have martins. I did have one successful year so I'm fairly confident that the openness and flyways that are available are sufficient or I would have never had the pair take up residence in the first place.

I'll have to wait and see.

Mitch

[Mitch Booth]

Hi Mitch,

A few years ago I visited your office to introduce myself and discuss Purple Martins. I am visiting my daughter in Akron from February 11th through February 17th. I'm willing to visit your martin site to offer my opinions and provide help. I have functioned as a PMCA Mentor for years and would be happy to help you. Let me know.

Bill Pec

Bill,

That would be great! I'll send you a private message with my phone number as I'm not sure I'm allowed to post it here.

Mitch

[Mitch Booth]

Bill,

It appears private messaging has been disabled on the Forum. I'm an Allstate agent and my contact information is on my website if you just search for Mitch Booth at Allstate.com in zipcode 44319. If I'm not in just let the girls know it's regarding purple Martins and they'll give you my cell phone number.

Mitch

[Bill Pec]

Mitch,

I've been to your office so I know its location. I'll stop over tomorrow to exchange phone numbers.

Bill

[taxidermy lady]

Once you get some martins and care for them maybe your wife will change her mind! Get her involved and she will get hooked

[Mitch Booth]

Once you get some martins and care for them maybe your wife will change her mind! Get her involved and she will get hooked

Sharon,

I think you are correct. She claims she's not a birder but when our resident Mallards arrive they follow her into the garage because she's constantly throwing them shelled corn!! Last year mama duck lead all the ducklings into our pool and the little ducklings couldn't jump out. She calls me home from the office to rescue the ducklings in the middle of the day!!! Ummm.... I'm thinking ducks are birds aren't they? I'll see if I can upload the video of it.

Mitch

[taxidermy lady]

Oh Mitch you are so lucky to have a body of water. I want one super bad! I do have the river about a half mile from my house but I would love to have ducks and geese to watch! Also there's a pond about 500 ft. Away but it has a lot of trees around it and not sure if the martins would use it!

I will get one some day, dream it and it will happen!!

[Carolyn C]

Mitch, I think it's great that you and Bill are getting together.
If your wife were to see my 2 martin houses in our little neighborhood with houses all around so close, she would hate it. It's not really all that great looking and we are on a corner lot. We had to get HOA approval for the first house and just snuck the second one up last year. Shhh, don't tell them. My point is, you have a great property with no one around you. The lake area is a perfect place for your martin " neighborhood". If it were me, I would be sitting around the pool sipping on something good and watching my birds--- if my birds wherein the back yard.

[ToyinPA]

Once you get some martins and care for them maybe your wife will change her mind! Get her involved and she will get hooked

Sharon,

I think you are correct. She claims she's not a birder but when our resident Mallards arrive they follow her into the garage because she's constantly throwing them shelled corn!! Last year mama duck lead all the ducklings into our pool and the little ducklings couldn't jump out. She calls me home from the office to rescue the ducklings in the middle of the day!!! Ummm.... I'm thinking ducks are birds aren't they? I'll see if I can upload the video of it.

Mitch

Mitch:
Once you get martins your wife will get hooked. My husband wasn't a bird person either....now he's hooked. Checking the nests & seeing the tiny chicks hatch out (we got to watch one hatch last year right out of the egg), watching them grow & fledge is so beyond words. It's even better if you can get them to supplement feed crickets via flipping them. You'll need to buy your wife, her own set of bino's & tri-pod .

Toy in PA

[CraigM]

Mitch, It took me maybe 2 or 3 years after we bought our house to get my first pair. I put up 2 poles right next to the field behind our house. The field is 40 acres and is either planted in corn or soybeans. After a couple years of no success, I moved the poles about 4 or 5 feet farther away from the edge of the field into the yard. I'm not sure if it was coincidence or that the new location appealed to the martins more, but I got a couple pair the next season. I had to stay and still have to be vigilant in the battle against starlings and sparrows. I used the dawn song and also had a wire strung between 2 old utility poles nearby. Keep trying. C

[eyeamtheman]

The only "problem" that might be happening is the nearby sites that have good housing. However, if you're using all the attraction methods, such as nesting material, a little mud, and of course the Dawnsong tape there's nothing more you can do. Remember of course the Martin vocalization tapes will ONLY work if there are martins near enough to hear it. I too, think it's only a matter of time for you. The biggest step is to get an interested female there then it's on.
I know it's been awhile but I think as long as your investigating martins are NOT harassed by ANY kind of site competitor, or predator, you will get a colony started.
Good luck!!

[Ladybug]

We also cleaned out several trees 3 years ago and having a difficult time to get a nesting pair again. Had lots of visitors since then. ASM could not get the females to stay with him last year.
I am hoping this year 2015, we will again be successful.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALSO. Joanne.

[Mitch Booth]

Joanne,

Did you previously have a successful nesting pair at your site prior to the removal of trees?

Mitch