AFTER TWO YEARS:FINALLY

DannyM · Tue May 05, 2015 7:48 am

Well, just wanted to update on my progress as a Martin landlord. I started out last year with a Heath house not knowing a lot about the process and had a few lookers but no takers. I've been playing the dawnsong faithfully morning and evening for two years. This year I purchased six gourds and put them up to try again. Well about three or four days ago, I had a pair come around and check things out. They came back that afternoon and then the next day. They have been around for four days now and it looks like they are going to stay. I took this picture of them this morning. From all I've read, I believe they are sub-adults but maybe some of you experts can tell me for sure. I am going to lower the gourds in a day or two and check on nesting progress and see where we are. They have stayed the night for the last couple of nights so I am very hopeful. I'm really excited and can't wait to see what's ahead.

Tim Mangan-Kansas · Tue May 05, 2015 8:39 am

Danny:

Congrats on getting your first pair. The male is an adult male (ASY) and although I cannot say with 100% certainty, it appears the female is a SY martin. Good luck.

Tim

John Evans · Tue May 05, 2015 8:56 am

Congratulations! It's a great feeling to be a landlord.. Kind of like having children.. You nurture them, love them, and are always worried about their safety

Anthony Neira · Tue May 05, 2015 9:11 am

Congrats Danny ! Great pic also, yes that ASY male is real handsome , looks like he'll protect his mate & offspring ! Good job! Keep us posted !

madattiver · Tue May 05, 2015 9:34 am

Way to go Danny! That ASY male looks pretty sharp!

Greg Borke MO · Tue May 05, 2015 9:47 am

Nice work Danny stick and stay and make it pay

With a adult male starting your colony it's the best thing that can happen, he will be Persistent on attracting others to your sight.

Carlton · Tue May 05, 2015 11:09 am

Great pic and wonderful news.

I think I would be inclined to just leave them alone until they are more solidly attached to the site especially since this is your first pair.

Good luck! So happy for you.

Carl

taxidermy lady · Tue May 05, 2015 1:19 pm

I am happy for you Danny! Way to go!!! You build it they will come!!!

Chuck4 · Tue May 05, 2015 1:24 pm

Happy for you! It took me two years as well to get going. I'm now in my third year as an active landlord (five years in total) with eight pairs (so far

).

Jose Rodriguez · Tue May 05, 2015 2:25 pm

Nice looking pair you have there Danny! Congratulations, you are definitely on your way!

Ed Svetich-WI · Wed May 06, 2015 7:33 am

I had to chuckle at the title of your post.I am very happy that you have attracted your first pair of martins after 2 years. Your accomplishment shows how beneficial the early work of Mr Hill and the PMCA has been in increasing the odds of successfully hosting purple martins. I finally attracted my first martins after more than 25 years about 10 years ago.

For those of us who were struggling in the "wilderness" of early purple martin attraction, the introduction of gourds, SREH, larger cavities, Dawn Song, etc. was truly historic. In the old days, you bought a metal house, set it up and waited for martins to arrive. Can you imagine the frustration of many years of waiting as sparrows took over and eventually you essentially gave up all hope of ever seeing a martin?

For those still waiting for your first martins, keep the faith. Between the PMCA and the many dedicated martin enthusiasts on this forum, the odds are in your favor. I had several conversations with Mr Hill many years ago as I vented my frustrations and he encouraged me and many others to try this or try that. It was a leap of faith to move my poles out from under the trees; deconstruct my Trio houses; keep them closed until the SY birds were due to arrive; pre build nests and then finally to try this tape of martins singing!

There is a lot of history that can be forgotten. Thanks Jamie!

pmartinlover2 · Wed May 06, 2015 12:41 pm

Fantastic Danny! So happy for you. Take care of those martins and ENJOY your new status.
_____
Jody

Matt@atx · Wed May 06, 2015 6:11 pm

Congrats on this first good looking pair. They both look very cute and healthy. Wouldn't that male be considered 3+ year old since he is entirely black? I thought it took 3 years for male Martins to be completely black.

Ryan · Wed May 06, 2015 6:48 pm

Great post Ed. I always read your posts since you've put in the time in this game. I'm in year five now and I've only seen two purple martins for a total of about 15 minutes in those five years. I'll still keep plugging away at it and building more housing knowing that it's been done in the past by others in tough to attract zones.

Ed Svetich-WI · Wed May 06, 2015 8:59 pm

Ryan,

That's nice of you to say. I think that the way that the PMCA went about studying martin biology without a bias one way or the other made sense. I remember a picture in one of the early Updates that showed a huge pile of experimental wooden martin houses that were to be burned. To my knowledge, other than those who were using natural gourds, they were the only ones actually using a scientific approach to think outside the box to see what worked and what did not.

They compared various housing, different entrances and other tweeks to see what the results were based on the most important factor, raising more martins safely. I liked that approach. I took their advice and was eventually successful.

My goal is to keep my colony small enough to manage so that I can be hands on and raise the most nestlings to fledging. I have been fortunate enough to fledge 205 young in the last two seasons from 24 large plastic gourds. That will allow others in the area to hopefully attract them as SY birds.

My suggestion is to play Dawn Song and the Daytime Chatter until it becomes natural background noise. I rarely saw martins until I used the recordings. They came out of the woodwork after that. If you have done all the right stuff, the next move is the martins.

Good luck.

Ed

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Anthony Neira · Wed May 06, 2015 9:27 pm

Ryan, you're so right about Ed ! After I put my hoof in my mouth last year, Ed replied in a positive, uplifting way to me with just a few kind words! Thanks again Ed ! ( Hope everything went well with that female Beagle dog ). Ryan , I've always believe that having one house or small set of gourds is fine, if for whatever reason, that's all the Landlord can do, Fine! But IF one could provide a little more ,(Doesn't have to be a bunch of houses & gourds posted up haphazardly, like I've seen in other nature publications!), I always think of New, or passing by Martins looking down, for new homes, as I see every end of the season when migrating PMs look down on my property and circle & cry out to any other PMs to join them flying south! Just Love It ! Good luck Ryan, you're in the right place !

Ryan · Wed May 06, 2015 9:33 pm

Thanks Ed. I've been playing the dawn song loudly most days when I'm not home from 4am till 6am. I split time at houses so I can get away with the loud dawn song. I did it last year and finally saw a SY for the first time in three years. He was seen a handful of times throughout the season. The dawn song certainly works. How many years did you go with the dawn song before landing one?

M.Stephens · Wed May 06, 2015 9:37 pm

Congrats Danny!........Glad you got that first pair! As I've said in the past if you ever need any help let me know. If you need any snake netting or baffle guards to protect your starting pair just look me up. I have plenty of netting and a couple of baffle guards if you need them for free.

Ryan · Wed May 06, 2015 9:39 pm

Anthony Neira wrote:Ryan, you're so right about Ed ! After I put my hoof in my mouth last year, Ed replied in a positive, uplifting way to me with just a few kind words! Thanks again Ed ! ( Hope everything went well with that female Beagle dog ). Ryan , I've always believe that having one house or small set of gourds is fine, if for whatever reason, that's all the Landlord can do, Fine! But IF one could provide a little more ,(Doesn't have to be a bunch of houses & gourds posted up haphazardly, like I've seen in other nature publications!), I always think of New, or passing by Martins looking down, for new homes, as I see every end of the season when migrating PMs look down on my property and circle & cry out to any other PMs to join them flying south! Just Love It ! Good luck Ryan, you're in the right place !

There's no colonies North of me. No flyovers I don't believe. There may be one small colony of one or two pairs about 15 miles east of me. Going to verify that this year. Nothing past that within 50 miles that I know of. it's not so much the housing here, it's the fact that there's very very few passing martins. I'm at the end of the range exactly. No one is left on the bus.

Ed Svetich-WI · Wed May 06, 2015 10:29 pm

Ryan,

I think that it took 3 years to finally get an SY pair. After that ,all of the growth in my colony was with ASY birds. I think that they moved from a sub standard site. It can be frustrating but it is always encouraging just drawing a martin in. I think it is important to also play the recording in late summer as migrating martins are passing by. You never know that they may be at a site that is not the best and they might like your site better on their return the next spring.

If there are active sites near you, it may be a good idea to have similar housing. It may have been a coincidence but the first year that I got martins was the first year that I hung 4 gourds below my Trio houses. The SY pair nested in the house, however. I think that gourds do help attract them, and you only need a few.

Start smaller and grow into the hobby. It can be less frustrating if you don't have to look at a large number of vacant cavities. Once you have a colony started, you can grow at your speed.

Ed

Ed

Ed