predator guards

[zekeandbelle]

hello all, I'm trying to decide what to do about owl guards and I'm wondering if those of you who have the various long pieces of metal that protrude out, over and along a gourd, think that they are effective. It seems that I've read that owls still hang from these, instead of the porches and so they really do not protect the martins inside. Any experience/insight is much appreciated.

jan

[taxidermy lady]

Great question I've always wondered if the wires worked also! Hopefully we'll get some feedback!

[John Miller]

I use them at a couple of locations. I can't say for certain they help, but I've always hoped they'd help deter an attack initially. If an owl is already coming nightly, then something more substantial would be needed.

But it's not just an owl attacking housing. I once read an account of an owl silently gliding in at dusk when an adult male martin was sitting outside on a gourd porch. The owl swiftly approached from below, swooped up in front of the gourd and picked the male martin off the porch in a quick flyby. I'd hope with the guards, this might have been prevented, or at least given the martin time to escape if the owl had to brush against the prongs.

John Miller

[Ed Svetich-WI]

Jan,

Tell us a bit about your colony. Do you have an active colony? How many pair? Have you had owl issues?

I have had the guards that hang down in front of the gourds for about 12 years. There are barred owls all around me. I have yet to have an issue. I think I have just been lucky. If you really want to prevent owl predation, enclose your entire set up with the 2x4 wire enclosure. It is probably the best defense. I have yet to do so because I do not like the way it looks. My preference. Thus far, I have not had any issues. I hope it continues. There are many other issues that take priority in establishing a successful martin colony. Owls have yet to be an issue thus far.

Ed
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[Louise Chambers]

We use them with success - of course we cannot prove that an owl has tried to raid the gourds, but we have a barred owl as regular visitor, it even perches on the gourd racks (but have never seen it on the owl guard rods). Regular nest checks & our records show no missing young or adults, so we think that either the owl is not interested in the martins, or it tried and failed. We put the owl guards up from almost day one, when our site had only 3 pairs - the thinking there is that once an owl is successful getting martins, it will continue, so adding guards after the fact is less likely to be successful. Prevent that first attempt, that is key to future success at protecting the martins.

Also, the guards have to be mounted correctly, and have to be placed far enough from the gourd to work - gourds with tunnels and external porches, or horizontal gourds, may require longer guards. My husband worked to get longer guard rods and devised a mounting system that worked with our rack, horizontal gourds, etc. If the guard rods are too close to the gourd, that would almost enable owls. (edit, added later) Guards that are mounted to a secure gourd hanging arm, rather than the gourd itself, are a better option. And using a solid heavy metal rod is best - wire won't do the job, owls are terrifically strong and their feet can crush flimsy guard wires.

Every owl is different - we have great horned, screech, barn and barred owls at our weekend site. The barred owl is the frequent visitor, and it seems to like frogs better than anything else. Rabbits are abundant, but the owl often perches in dead tree by pond, where leopard frogs offer abundant, easy meals. Nest checks to confirm guards are working are a necessity - if you don't know your method is working, you need to change it.

[cnevett27]

Good Point, Louise on placement of the owl gourds. I too have the two arms that come over the front of the gourds. I don't think I ever noticed how close they are to the porches. I see yours leaves lots of room. I will have to see if I can adjust that on my rack. I also have another old rack that has the old nature gourds, no porch. There are no owl gourds for these that I know about. Also thought I was ok with the horizontal tunnels on the Troyer's. Is that not the case? How do you know if you have had owl attacks. On occasion, I have had missing nestlings, sometimes very young, under 5 days, one may disappear. Also, have had an occasional older one, rest of the nestlings stayed and fledged. So really not sure, but there are hawks and owls in our area. Any info or ideas to protect our birds besides a huge cage over the rack would be great. Waiting for some creative martin enthusiast to come up with a great idea. Thanks Louise for your pic and keeping us informed. Cindy N.

[zekeandbelle]

thanks much for the input....Ed, the colony has been here for several decades, but has always been small in numbers, up until this year when I finally "disposed of" over 100 sparrows last year and this year... fledglings went from 10 last year to 32 this year.. There are two trio houses right next to each other, (mine) then a Troyer rack about 100 feet away (mine), then another trio house 100 feet from that, (a neighbor's), all these are in a row along the lake, then another neighbor across the lake about 400 feet away has an old old Heath. Earlier this year I confirmed that a great horned owl had gotten 2 ASY's from one of the trios, (both have enlarged compartments), and so we built the large, very cumbersome cages out of 2x4 and the cages protected the martins and saved them, along with lots of other things I did to keep the GHO away. Now that my last family has finally left, I have to figure out what to do with the cages. The owl never attacked the gourd rack, nor the other trio houses, (but I don't know what kept it away, it may have been all the scary stuff I did). It just attacked the two trios that are next to each other. I will probably leave those cages up. But the cage on the Troyer rack is huge. It won't survive the ice and snow of winter so I'm trying to decide what to do. The current cage has to come down because it is ridiculously enormous ..we built it in a BIG hurry! The owl never got anything out of the gourds, (I did nest checks and lots of watching, too!) so I'm trying to decide if the rods would be enough protection if the owl returns next year. Louise, are the wires commercially sold? I know there is nothing made specifically for Troyer verticals or horizontals..did you use one of the others that pmca sells?

[Louise Chambers]

Cindy asked

Also thought I was ok with the horizontal tunnels on the Troyer's. Is that not the case?

A horizontal guard with a tunnel is not the equivalent of a gourd equipped with owl guard rods. Owls will use a gourd porch to grab onto, while using wings to flush martins and other foot to grab them as they exit. Owl guard rods can help block the owls from getting right up to porch or entrance of gourd.

Jan asked

The owl never got anything out of the gourds, (I did nest checks and lots of watching, too!) so I'm trying to decide if the rods would be enough protection if the owl returns next year. Louise, are the wires commercially sold? I know there is nothing made specifically for Troyer verticals or horizontals..did you use one of the others that pmca sells?

You might do best to remove the cage for the winter and redesign & reinstall next spring. I don't know if going from cage to guard rods would be safe or not. It's good that the owl has not been successful though.

We used owl guard rods (solid, sturdy aluminum rods, not wires) that are no longer available but IF people let the PMCA know they want owl guard rods to fit Troyer horizontals, maybe they will be able to offer them. The owl guard rods PMCA sells now fit any vertical gourd, that covers SuperGourds, Excluder Gourds, Troyer vertical Gourds, and others. The guard rods attach to the rack, not the gourd, and that is the best way to protect gourds.

Cages are the ultimate protection - read Kathy Freeze's excellent posts & blog entries on her experiences. The owl attacking her site was successful before guards were added, making it much harder to stop the attacks. But she didn't give up, she kept reworking things. Here is a link to one of her posts: https://www.purplemartin.org/forum/view ... 93#p271193 Search for owl cage to read more.

[daveh]

I was talking with Mel from Hilltop Specialties the other day and he said they were designing an owl guard for Troyer gourds and probably be available in January through PMCA.

Dave