My Adam has finally found he is Eve

jhcox · Mon May 29, 2017 12:47 pm

May Adam has finally found his Eve. He has been sticking around here for the last three weeks. Along with a couple other sub adult males that come by two to three times a day. But he has been the only one staying the night on a regular basis. I came home from looking at another colony that I just found this morning while fishing on Melton Hill Lake just west of me. When I pulled in a the house there he was showing her every gourd on the racks. He was signing more today than I have ever heard him sign before and she was joining in right with him. Now if he can just convince her to stay we might be getting some where with PM colony thing.

JHCox

taxidermy lady · Mon May 29, 2017 1:03 pm

Wow that's great news !!! Goodluck

!!

C.C.Martins · Mon May 29, 2017 1:25 pm

Boy, sounds like he is a happy camper, wish you all the luck! she just needs convincing

jhcox · Mon May 29, 2017 2:15 pm

Ya and he's working hard to convince her to stay. Thry we're here for about an hour or so. I sure hope to see them again. They just might be the start of my colony. Keeping my fingers crossed.

JHCox

Kuemic · Mon May 29, 2017 3:41 pm

So exciting to have repeat visits. Sounds like you're on your way to a fun season. Good luck!!

Michelle

jhcox · Tue May 30, 2017 9:00 am

Thanks Michelle. For 3 years all that I have ever had was 1 adult male and between 3 to 6 sub adult male. This is the first female that I have ever witnessed at my sight. I have 12 Bo9 gourds with tunnel entrance's with porches. But all of the martin colony's that I have seen with in around a 30 mile radius all have the really large super gourd type systems with the much deeper nesting cavities. Also I have not witnessed a single gourd with a porch on it. As far as the entrances it has been 50/50 on round hole or SREH. Should I make an attempt to put up a few super gourd with the larger cavities and no porch with half of them round holes and the other half SREH???? If I got 6 of each that would give me a total of 24 Gourds all together plus the 6 compartments in my S&K house. Or should I leave it with the status as is until I actually get a colony started?? In need of some of the veteran PM landlords knowledge on this. Thanks JHCox

BillieJR · Tue May 30, 2017 10:16 am

Good luck - I hope she stays!

jhcox · Tue May 30, 2017 11:47 am

Thanks BillieJR me too

KaraInTexas · Tue May 30, 2017 2:07 pm

I am a newbie, but I say leave it as is if you have sparked some Martin interest! I will never use round holes though. Just leaves one more intruder the ability to destroy your dream of babies. My houses right now are predator proof with the exception of sparrows. The cavities in the house where I actually have my first nest and eggs is 12 inches deep. No lie. That prevents a lot of predators from reaching in and grabbing anything out.
Just recently I saw the Martins dive bombing the sparrows that were hanging around. I think the Martins are even hopeful.

Good luck with your love birds. Sounds like the start of something awesome!

Cheers

KaraInTexas · Tue May 30, 2017 2:10 pm

Addendum to above post:

Martins visiting my site have no problem going in the starling resistant holes. I have heard some folks say the martins may not be able to get in, or may have issues with the starling resistant holes. That is not my experience at all. AT ALL. I heard a newscaster deliver that misinformation.

Kuemic · Tue May 30, 2017 2:50 pm

I agree with Kara. Only SREH's for me on both the Trio house and our Excluder Gourds. We have way too many starling visits. I've seen a starling land on the house, peek in cavities, then fly away - all in a matter of seconds. Happens most everyday around here.

I don't have any experience as to types of gourds - we only have a rack of 4 - and one is being used as a sparrow trap. This is the first year we've had a nesting pair in the gourds. If the male is determined enough, he will enter the crescent openings. Once they are in and out a couple of times, there is no struggle at all. We had an ASY pair visiting earlier, the female would enter the crescent openings, but the male never followed her completely inside. They were here about a week, then left.

I've not seen any nearby houses with crescent openings, so I understand your dilemma. I figure, survival of the fittest...they'll either learn to use the openings, or go elsewhere to more vulnerable housing.

Wish we had the same advantage against sparrows.... Hope you have a productive martin season!!!

Michelle

jhcox · Tue May 30, 2017 3:40 pm

Thanks for the info guys. The round hole or crescent entrance was just a thought. I dont like the round holes either but around here they really seem to prefer them. I may just wait until next year on the super grounds. Maybe I'll just ask for them for Christmas. And put them up next spring. I hope the PM pair comes back and its a short courtship and they get to making some little Martins. I would love to get my colony started this year. Thanks again JHCox

Mhoover · Tue May 30, 2017 5:06 pm

I started my colony with crescent entrances and prong style own guards. It takes a while for some of the ASY martins to learn how to enter the crescents but once a female chooses a gourd the male quickly learns how to get in and out based on what I have seen.
My colony this year started with two pair that appeared to have never used the crescent openings. They had problems for a while until a SYF arrived the next day that I believe was fledged here last year based on her coloring. She quickly entered her natal gourd and the rest were going in and out like experts within a few hours. She also attracted a spare ASYM the same day.
Once they saw how to enter the gourds they quickly adapted. I am now up to six pair.

jhcox · Tue May 30, 2017 8:52 pm

Thanks MHoover I guess I will stick to the SREH it is best for the martins. This is my 4th year trying to get Martin and based on what I've seen around here I just thought it might be worth a shot with the round entrances since that appears to be what their used to around this area.. JHCox

Mhoover · Tue May 30, 2017 10:14 pm

JHCox

There were no SREH entrances at the few colonies that I spotted in my area when I began trying to establish a colony.
Every location that I was able to spot during multiple hours of driving on every road that I could find within a 10 mile radius only brought up five locations that had martins nesting. All of the locations except one used houses. The one location that had 4 gourds of which 2 were used had round holes and none of the locations had predator guards on their poles. I was about ready to give up after 6 years of trying and the only thing that kept me going was that I attracted a SY male my 6th year that stayed around for almost 3 weeks trying to attract other martins. He could bring them in but they all left after looking over the martin house for a few minutes. Only one of the visitors actually entered the house.
I refused to give up hope after seeing the SY male go in and out of the crescent entrances so easily after a few tries. It was only after putting up another pole with gourds on it that I finally attracted martins. I have never gotten martins to nest in my S&K martin house so I replaced it with another gourd rack last year mid-year.

jhcox · Wed May 31, 2017 7:26 pm

Hey MHoover I may do the same with my S&K house if I ever get a colony started. And I see that they don't want to use it at all. It's almost 8:30 now and im sitting on the back patio waiting for my lone sub adult male to show ip to roost I was very optimistic a couple days ago when he brought a female in but I haven't seen her since. Very depressing watching them come and go and no female stay with him even the 2 or 3 other subadult makes aren't coming around as much anymore. But yet here I sit looking to the skies waiting for the protocol son to arrive back home. Hoping for a better tomorrow JHCox