I currently have gourds with excluder openings and modified excluders. I am buying new gourds and wondered what type of luck people have had crescent type openings in regards to excluding starlings and whether martins like them.
Also any comments on the Heath deluxe purple mart gourds would be beneficial
Opinions on "crescent openings" for Gourds
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Dave Duit
- Posts: 2145
- Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2003 2:02 pm
- Location: Iowa / Nevada
- Martin Colony History: In 2024, 82 pair with 350 fledged youngsters. 110 total cavities available, 82 Troyer Horizontal gourds and a homemade PVC / metal 28 compartment unit, 1 fallout shelter. Hawk and owl guards included. Martin educator and speaker. President and founder of the Iowa Purple Martin Organization. Please visit Iowa Purple Martin Organization on Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1627283871068161 Emails send to [email protected]. Subject line include Iowa Purple Martin.
For gourds I stick with Conley 2 entrances. I have never had a starling breach this opening.
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Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6208
- Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi, TX
I had starlings getting into crescents and conleys on gourds, switched to excluder IIs with good results.
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Dave Reynolds
- Posts: 2442
- Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:35 pm
- Location: Little Hocking, Oh.
- Martin Colony History: Satellite Site “Oxbow Golf Course”..
2018 - 15 Pair, 36 Fledged
2019 - 26 Pair, 97 Fledged
2020 - 30 Pair, 137 Fledged
2021 - 30 Pair, 144 Fledged
2022 - 27 Pair, 125 Fledged
2023 - 31 Pair, 130 Fledged
2024 - 41 Pair, 198 Fledged
2025 - 44 Pair, 168 Fledged
Home Site "Little Hocking, Ohio".
2019 - 1 Pair, 5 Fledged
2020 - 1 Pair, 4 Fledged
2021 - 8 Pair, 36 Fledged
2022 - 13 Pair, 46 Fledged
2023 - 16 Pair, 84 Fledged
2024 - 22 Pair, 104 Fledged
2025 - 28 Pair, 83 Fledged
..... When I started my Satellite Site, I could not be there all the time, so I put Conley 11 entrances on all the trio house doors (24) and the eight Toryer Horizontal gourds came with Conley 11 entrance ..... Two years of success... So far so good, I think the Martins like them..
Dave
Dave
PMCA Member
Little Hocking, Ohio
Little Hocking, Ohio
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mwren
- Posts: 174
- Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 2:43 pm
- Location: OH/Athens
- Martin Colony History: I have had my martin colony on the dam of one of my ponds for nine years. The colony has grown each year, but I am now concentrating on helping friends and acquaintances who have shown interests in martins. My colony consists of three T-14's with 8 Troyer gourds attatched to each T-14, a Troyer gourd rack with 12 gourds, and another gourd rack with 18 Troyer gourds for a total of 96 nest cavities. I am having serious predation issues with hawks and owls and am experimenting with various hawk guards and "screens". Established successful supplemental feeding the last few seasons and have had a blast flipping mostly meal worms and some crickets. Faculty from Ohio University are using my colony as a research site to study parasites that target cavity nesting birds. In exchange for access to my bird trail nest boxes and martin housing, they are banding all birds involved in their study.
I have tried just about all types of gourd openings, and I agree with the reccomendations you are getting for both Excluders and Conleys.
"Bird"
"Bird"
Mike "Bird" Wren
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
Please try using sideboards. They work on any kind of entrances. The sideboards completely stop starlings and wing entrapment. This recommendation was tested for 3years with 36 gourds and it stopped the starlings and wing entrapment.. I use rectangular openings, they stop the starlings when sideboards are used. The sideboards force the starlings to go straight into the opening, which completly stops them.
I tried this same thing on a test about 8 years ago, it worked then, but I didn't think it was so simple. All that you need to make a sideboard, is something that extends 1 in away from the entrance on ANY sreh to force the starling to straight in..
I tried this same thing on a test about 8 years ago, it worked then, but I didn't think it was so simple. All that you need to make a sideboard, is something that extends 1 in away from the entrance on ANY sreh to force the starling to straight in..
PMCA Member, 250 gourds, 6 poles, 2traps
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John Miller
- Posts: 4866
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Porch placement below the crescent also is a factor. At one-half inch, starlings may be able to use their legs to get leverage. Placed about 1/8 to no more than 1/4 inch below, martins can enter fairly easily but starlings find it more difficult. Flush is the most restrictive, but can be a little tough for martins until they learn to enter.
I have always felt that a properly-sized crescent works as well as the more difficult to construct excluder, including the Conley, although nothing looks cooler than the excluder openings. Just looking at them makes a visitor think, "wow, this person really know his sxxx about martins! 