DawnSong Repost

jhcox · Sat Feb 24, 2018 3:24 pm

These are some satellite photos of my PM site.

jhcox · Sat Feb 24, 2018 3:43 pm

They are not great pics but if you look to the left of the house you can see the 3 gourd racks and 1 S&K house in the fence row. The tree that's to right of the upper gourd rack is a small peach tree less than 20 feet high and over 40 to 50 feet away and will not get any bigger. The trees on the other side of the property in the other fence row are over 100 feet away. As you can see there are very clear fly ways into the site. There is plenty of open fields on my property and all around me. And multiple water sources near by just not shown in the photos. As far as the setup goes the sites that I have seen in my area are far less open and have PM each year. And I'm using gourds as they are. if anyone sees any thing that I should change let me know. And if anyone hears of a mentor near my east TN area please let me know will take all the help I can get. Thanks again JHCox Heiskell Tn.

jhcox · Sat Feb 24, 2018 3:49 pm

Randym I hope all your martins return with some friends in tow with them good luck. I have my fingers crossed that my loan male returns with a girl friend. I will attempt to get some better photos from the ground this week as the rain moves out of our area and I will try to post them as well. Thanks again JHCox

tor · Sat Feb 24, 2018 7:26 pm

JHCox,

I don't see anything sticking out or detrimental on your site. From what I can tell from the sat. pics, your site is located between the fence line and your house (marked green, south-west). Not sure how far it is from the fence, but I would try moving the site further from the fence and house (marked red) to the north-west, or,,,,moving it further from the fence on the opposite side of house (south-east).

You will get the site further from the fence line, and a little further from the house, meaning better flight paths in all directions, except north east (trees). As far as water, the only decent location I see is about 4000 ft east-north east, and is well in range for the martins for water.

These are just observations from the air and from street view.

Good luck to you, and do not give up.

Tor

jhcox · Sun Feb 25, 2018 8:41 am

Thank you tor the advice. The only reason I put it in the fence row was for more support. Thanks again and good luck this year

Archer · Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:53 am

I see the fence line is right beside the road. What reactions do the martins have to traffic? Does the traffic move fast or slow? An investigating martins is naturally feeling insecure. A rapidly approaching car might be enough to give it a scare and chase it off. Moving the housing a little ways from the fence line (and road) might be to your advantage. These are just my thoughts as I am not there to see the reactions the martins have to traffic. I suspect that martins would not be concerned if they were an established colony, but starting a new colony is different.

About finding a mentor, suggest looking at the scout report for your area, using last years entries. Doing a search of peoples names you can often come up with their phone number. Maybe you can find one this way. I find martin people usually approachable and friendly.

jhcox · Sun Feb 25, 2018 4:10 pm

Hey Archer nice to hear from you again. In the pictures that is only my uncles drive way that go by the fence notmu h traffic the are elderly and don’t go in and out much. And I may give that a try on looking up the names. I hope you have a great year. If you get to many send some my way.