No female yet!

taxidermy lady · Sat May 09, 2015 7:11 pm

He brings them in and they leave! Tomorrow will be day 5, no luck yet! I have no decoys up and nothing playing! I am letting him do the work! He is trying! Ok I will keep you updated! Good luck to all!

eyeamtheman · Sat May 09, 2015 8:10 pm

Good luck Sharon. Hang in there.

jmrepko66 · Sat May 09, 2015 8:11 pm

I know how you feel Sharon. This is my first year trying and kinda have the same situation. I had my first ASY male show up a week after Easter. He attracted a female 4 days later and I thought all was looking great as she actually stayed for 4 days. Then we had some crappie weather for about a week and did not see her again. However the male stayed. I was playing the dawn song all day but stopped thinking that I will let him do the work. After several days of not playing the dawn song, I did not see him bring back any visitors. So I started playing the dawn song again all day. The next day he brought back a femal and she has been here for a week now. I am still playing the dawn song all day and this morning there was a SY male here. I have not seen the SY this evening, but I am not trying to pay too much attention at this point-in-time so as not to drive myself crazy. I am trying not to get too excited until I see eggs. I just want to get a colony started so bad! I know this is my first year but I have been wanting to start a colony ever since the first time I have seen a colony as a little boy. I think we just need to hang in there and do all we can do to give our future martins a great home and they will eventually come.

jmrepko66 · Sat May 09, 2015 9:42 pm

I know how you feel Sharon. This is my first year trying and kinda have the same situation. I had my first ASY male show up a week after Easter. He attracted a female 4 days later and I thought all was looking great as she actually stayed for 4 days. Then we had some crappie weather for about a week and did not see her again. However the male stayed. I was playing the dawn song all day but stopped thinking that I will let him do the work. After several days of not playing the dawn song, I did not see him bring back any visitors. So I started playing the dawn song again all day. The next day he brought back a femal and she has been here for a week now. I am still playing the dawn song all day and this morning there was a SY male here. I have not seen the SY this evening, but I am not trying to pay too much attention at this point-in-time so as not to drive myself crazy. I am trying not to get too excited until I see eggs. I just want to get a colony started so bad! I know this is my first year but I have been wanting to start a colony ever since the first time I have seen a colony as a little boy. I think we just need to hang in there and do all we can do to give our future martins a great home and they will eventually come.

taxidermy lady · Sun May 10, 2015 6:16 am

Yeah it is nice to have one martin, BUT I need a female! They are just so jittery! I wish I knew what would relax them. I have a lot of other songbirds around my yard! I'm done with the cd while he's here! Oh well maybe today! Thanks and good luck to all!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there in purple Martin land!

MichaelH · Sun May 10, 2015 7:10 am

Wishing you both all the luck ther is one thing I am learning as a newbie is that this process is very unpredictable and frustrating ,oh well good luck ,chin up and happy Mother's Day to you all too
Mick

Dave Reynolds · Sun May 10, 2015 7:19 am

Sharon ---- I know the feeling,,, Some of the females, just won't land,.. seem to be fickle at times. If she want's to start house, she will settle down.. Wishing you the best of luck...

Dave

ShawnK · Sun May 10, 2015 10:01 am

Sharon,

I know what you are going through. I went through the same thing here with an ASY male. He worked very hard bringing a female in here every day for about 10 days and then they stopped coming. While trying not to get my hopes up I could not help but feel like it was going to happen once I saw her finally go in the gourd two or three times.

I hope it works out for you Sharon so you can fill the air with martins.

Shawn

taxidermy lady · Mon May 11, 2015 2:19 pm

Still no female, SYM is still trying! I beleive we need a miracle about now! He's been here today several times with a female but puff their gone! I know Toy is right about the lighting because when it's cloudy he does not try! But as soon as the sun comes back he is back at it! Why do they do that? Good luck everyone

Ed Pace · Mon May 11, 2015 4:54 pm

Sharon do you know anyone who has a small colony nearby that would let you tape the sounds of a few Martin's and then play it on a continuous CD recording? You can probably find somewhere online that has a recording of just a few Martin's instead of playing one like the Downsong or the daytime chatter which has several hundred Martin's all calling at the same time. Some females are trying to get away from the huge crowd were males are constantly harassing her but they still don't want to go to a ghost town , try it,it work for me. Ed

taxidermy lady · Mon May 11, 2015 5:34 pm

I have not been playing no cd at all during the daylight hours.This morning I turned it on at 4:00-6:00a.m. Nothing after that! Do you think a low volume of dawnsong would be ok through the day! The cd is from PMCA and it seems low key with the bird dawn singing and a few in the back talking! I do not have the daytime chatter! I gave it to my son!

There is a lady in town I could get a recording from. I may look on line. There is you tube videos with just a few singing!

And what about decoys? I have none up right now! I had 3 on the feeder last week, but took them down after 2 days when I seen they wasn't staying.
Thanks for trying to help Ed I will try anything right now! Good luck with your colony tooo!

Peter D · Mon May 11, 2015 5:55 pm

Don't give up! I am 4 years in and have had many false starts and much disappointment. After a slow start to this year, today was my most hopeful day with a 2nd year male bringing in a female and them both seeming pretty settled all day. Just out of the blue. I have decoys and martin song playing softly under the gourds to make females feel safe. At night I have been playing dawn song loudly to bring in exploring or migrating birds, but turning it off during the day, and if these 2 stay tonight I won't play the loud dawn song tonight. I don't know how often that sort of strategy works but today it seems like a the trick cause for the first time I have a female seeming pretty interested.

taxidermy lady · Mon May 11, 2015 7:11 pm

Well way to go Peter! Very happy for you! I have 2 decoys back up on feeder and dawnsong playing very softly! Kinda like a romantic mode!!! If it works yeehaw! Thanks Ed and Peter for great advice! I will let you know! He just had a female here but nope she's gone!he is trying!!

avesrun · Mon May 11, 2015 7:53 pm

Just a matter of time TL. The male will be successful; that's what they're wired to do!

taxidermy lady · Mon May 11, 2015 8:40 pm

Like I put on your post "while I'm away! He is spending the night in his gourd! Suppose to be in the high 40's tonight so he's not dumb he's taking advantage of that nice prenest of white pine needles! MMMM so soft he say!

avesrun · Mon May 11, 2015 9:53 pm

He's the only smart Martin in your area apparently!