After living about 53 years of my life in the Tallahassee, Florida area, I moved to northwest Louisiana in December 2004 and started my current purple martin colony in 2005. I decided to retire “early”, be bold and try a new state! My colony is located next door to my good friend Bob Bozeman’s site and Bob has lived in this area all his life. When I arrived, he had a super martin colony of 150+ pairs of martins.
My martin colony has flourished and grown tremendously over the years. Martins are abundant in northwest Louisiana and we provide good quality housing and protection from competitors and predators. Our location is open with plenty of flying space. I believe anyone in this area can have a large thriving martin colony provided they take good care of their colony and have an open site.
Here are the martin stats by year for my martin colony; please note when the number of martin pairs hit 300+ then it became “a little difficult” to determine the “exact” number! However, I believe my totals are reasonably accurate.
2005
This was my first year and I erected 130 cavities including natural gourds, Super Gourds, and Lone Star aluminum houses. I attracted a whopping 81 pairs of martins that first season! My colony contained 28 ASY pairs and 53 SYs. This represents an occupancy level of 62%. I no doubt benefited from Bob’s super martin colony as the overflow went directly to my new site.
2006
After the fantastic success of 2005, I had no idea what would happen in 2006, but I figured I would achieve super colony status with 100+ pairs of martins. In 2006, I erected 219 cavities, including natural gourds, Super Gourds, Troyer Horizontals with cling plates, and Lone Star and Trio aluminum houses. I attracted 175 pairs of martins: 118 ASYs and 57 SYs. This represents an occupancy level of 80%.
2007
For 2007, I continued to increase the number of cavities offered from my previous season. I erected 286 cavities, including natural gourds, Super Gourds, Troyer Horizontals with cling plates, and Trendsetter, Lone Star and Trio aluminum houses. For my third season in northwest Louisiana, I attracted 254 pairs of martins and that represented an occupancy level of 89%. There were 160 ASY pairs and 94 SYs.
2008
In 2008, I erected 358 cavities, including natural gourds, Super Gourds, Troyer Horizontals with cling plates and tunnels/porches, and Trendsetter, Sunset Inn, Lone Star and Trio aluminum houses. I attracted 309 pairs of martins and that represented an occupancy level of 86%. There were 257 ASY pairs and 52 SYs.
2009
For 2009, I offered 372 cavities. This included Troyer Horizontal gourds with tunnels/porches and cling plates, Super Gourds, Excluder Gourds, natural gourds and Trendsetter, Sunset Inn, and Trio aluminum houses. I attracted 315 pairs of martins, 251 pairs of ASYs and 64 pairs of SYs reflecting an 85% occupancy level.
2010
For 2010, I erected 376 cavities. I did eliminate all natural gourds. I used Troyer Horizontal gourds with tunnels/porches and cling plates, Troyer Vertical Gourds, Super Gourds, Excluder Gourds, and Trendsetter, Sunset Inn, and Trio aluminum houses. This was the first season in my purple martin history that I did not use any natural gourds. Though I really like natural gourds, I had grown tired of the upkeep on naturals and have found that good quality opaque plastic gourds are just as attractive to martins. The martins readily accepted the plastic substitutes. I attracted 337 pairs of martins, 226 ASY pairs and 111 pairs of SYs reflecting an occupancy level of 90%.
2011
The 2011 martin season was a disaster for us. A possible tornado tore through and devastated our two colonies on April 26, 2011 and destroyed hundreds of martin eggs. Many houses and gourd racks were blown down. Fortunately good friends came to the rescue and helped us restore our colonies to almost the same level before the storm; most of the martins re-nested. However, a disastrous drought was underway and untold numbers of martin nestlings and fledglings starved to death due to a severe shortage of large flying insect prey. I ended up with 366 cavities and a remarkable 331 pairs of martins in spite of the tornado disaster for an occupancy level of 90%. I used Troyer Horizontal gourds with tunnels/porches and cling plates, Troyer Vertical Gourds, Super Gourds, Excluder Gourds, and Trendsetter and Trio aluminum houses. I did not differentiate between ASYs and SYs.
2012
The 2012 martin season was the opposite of 2011 and was the best I have ever had so far relative to the production of young and availability of plenty of food. We had significant rainfall during the fall, winter and early spring and this produced plenty of large insect prey like dragonflies. I erected 392 cavities and attracted 347 pairs of martins: 286 ASYs and 61 SYs. This represents an occupancy level of 89%. I used Troyer Horizontal gourds with tunnels/porches and cling plates, Troyer Vertical Gourds, Super Gourds, Excluder Gourds, and Trendsetter, Sunset Inn, Coates Watersedge and Trio aluminum houses.
2013
In 2013, I continued with 392 cavities and attracted 370 pairs of martins which is the largest number of martins I have ever had at that time. This represents an occupancy level of 94%. I used Troyer Horizontal gourds with tunnels/porches and cling plates, Troyer Vertical Gourds, Super Gourds, Excluder Gourds, and Trendsetter, Coates Watersedge and Trio aluminum houses. But unusual cold spells during April and early May damaged many eggs which did not hatch. So the production of young was not as good as in 2012. I did not differentiate between ASY and SY pairs relative to numbers.
2014
I did something different in 2014 and slightly reduced the number of cavities! This reduction was largely the result of some changes in housing types. I had 364 cavities and used Troyer Horizontal Gourds with tunnels/porches and cling plates, Troyer Vertical Gourds, Excluder Gourds, and Super Gourds. I also eliminated my Coates and Trio aluminum houses and continued only with Trendsetters. I attracted 340 pairs of martins for a 93% occupancy level and I did not differentiate between ASY and SY pairs relative to numbers.
2015
Well, in 2015 I increased the number of cavities over 2014! I erected 404 cavities and I used Excluder Gourds, Super Gourds, Troyer Vertical Gourds, and Troyer Horizontal Gourds with tunnels/porches and cling plates and Trendsetter aluminum houses. I attracted 365 pairs of martins for an occupancy level of 90%. I did not differentiate ASY and SY pairs by numbers.
2016
This season I kept the same number of cavities as in 2015 and erected 404 cavities. I used Excluder Gourds, Super Gourds, Troyer Vertical Gourds, and Troyer Horizontal Gourds with tunnels/porches and cling plates and Trendsetter aluminum houses. I attracted 376 pairs of martins for an occupancy level of 93%. I did not differentiate ASY and SY pairs by numbers. This total was highest number of pairs of martins I have ever had in any colony!
For 2017
I plan to use the same number of cavities as in 2016. I am getting ready to build pre-nests of pine straw as necessary and start hanging gourds. Late January will be here before you know it and we usually get our first martin during the last week!
My current martin colony has been in existence for 12 years now and several thousand martins have fledged; Bob has also fledged several thousand! Our two super martin colonies have most likely “seeded” many new colonies throughout northwest Louisiana and brought the joys of “martineering” to other folks.
Here are some recent photos of my current martin colony:
Steve
