Clean out houses
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Duane33067
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 2:51 pm
- Location: MO/Exeter
I have been cleaning out martin houses on a weekly time frame and I found 2 broken bird eggs ( light blue with brown speckles ) hope it was not martin eggs.
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madattiver
- Posts: 263
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 8:44 pm
- Location: SK/Saskatoon
- Martin Colony History: 12 unit North Star + 4 gourds
2014 - 1 pair
2015 - 1 pair
2016 - 1 pair + 1 sub male (until my female died)
2017 - 6 pair
Martin eggs are pure white.
Do the eggs look like any of these below?
Do the eggs look like any of these below?
Adam
Fifth Year Landlord
Fifth Year Landlord
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Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6208
- Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi, TX
Duane, if you are cleaning out the houses to try to stop house sparrows from taking over, it will not work - they are so persistent! Better to trap and/or shoot them, since they are not native, not protected (and that is also true of european starling). But that goes only for house sparrows - all our native sparrows are protected, and none of them would nest in a martin or bluebird box.
These blue eggs are also ones you want to clean out of the nests...
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- robin_egg_starling_egg.jpg (6.05 KiB) Viewed 2345 times
2014 8 gourds, 3 pairs nested. Ended w/ 24 total
2015 24 gourds, 22 nests. Lotsa birds!
2016 24 gourds and good activity.
2017 32 SREH gourds. Great activity.
2018 40 SREH gourds. Good finish despite big storm damage. No more dangling gourds.
2019 56+ SREH gourds, all on 3/8 rods. Birds did very well.
2020 56 SREH gourds.
2015 24 gourds, 22 nests. Lotsa birds!
2016 24 gourds and good activity.
2017 32 SREH gourds. Great activity.
2018 40 SREH gourds. Good finish despite big storm damage. No more dangling gourds.
2019 56+ SREH gourds, all on 3/8 rods. Birds did very well.
2020 56 SREH gourds.
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Chuck4
- Posts: 861
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 10:05 am
- Location: North MS
- Martin Colony History: I started trying to attract Purple Martins in 2011. I got my first breeding pair in 2013.
2013-1 pair, 2014-4 pair, 2015-8 pair, 2016-12 pair 60 babies :-).
Chris B wrote:These blue eggs are also ones you want to clean out of the nests...
Robins (a Thrush) are not cavity nesters and will not use martin housing to nest in. Bluebirds (also a Thrush) are cavity nesters and lay blue eggs. Starlings will lay eggs in martin housing, and of course should be controlled. One thing to keep in mind though, and Louise said this already, HOSP and Starlings are introduced species and aren't protected by the Migratory Bird Act. Robins and Bluebirds are protected, and should they not be messed with.
PMCA Member
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