Purple Martins in Melbourne, Florida!

[Mike Dingman]

We have Martins in Melbourne, FL. I expected some activity this weekend as it was a warm week, however cold front coming in tonight. It was about 5pm, I was outside and heard the familiar Cher, Cher, from the air, took me a few moments to spot the single ASY female making wide circles around my backyard, had to look close with the binoculars to verify a female. This is the beginning of my 23rd year hosting martins, and even after all this time/experience/exhilaration/and heartbreak/ I still got the goose bumps that I get every year when I see the first one of the season who I know for sure nested in my backyard the previous year. The great feelings never change. After 2 passes and attempts to get in a gourd, at 5:32pm she navigated the hawk/owl guard on gourd rack #2, and slipped right in Super Gourd #3. Safe and sound. I poured a glass of wine and enjoyed the moment. About 20 minutes later I was able to enjoy over 300 bats exiting for the evening out of 5 different bat houses... Now if I can just get those Chimney Swifts to accept that tower I built 3 years ago I will be extremely pleased. (I have to wait to the first of April for that to happen). My 3 wood duck houses are still empty, but they have been here swimming in the river so I know it wont be long they will be laying eggs in those houses. I have been hosting them for over 10 years now, they are a beautiful pair to watch, and really sweet to see the young new born ducks jump from the nest box to the ground after hatching only a day or so before. Good luck to all of you Purple Martin Landlords this season. This is a hobby I will never get tired of, I really enjoy the whole experience.

[flyin-lowe]

Congrats on the arrivals. I wish I had the same success with bats that you have. I currently have a house up at my place and have placed several others at different locations. The numbers in Indiana have really been declining and not a lot of people have success with them in houses up here. Curious if you build your own houses or commercially made. all of the ones I have built have been homemade and of varying sizes. The largest being for a friend of mine, a 5 chamber 60"x60". The one I have at my house is 24"x24" 3 chamber.
There is professor at a nearby college from me who is an expert on bats and he says he has never been able to get bats to stay in man made housing in Indiana. I know some have but I don't see many of them.

[Kegger]

Quite a resume you have Mike! Best wishes and good luck this year! Mike P

[SSMartin]

Mike that is great to hear I am in Grant and still waiting for that familiar sound. I also provide boxes for wood ducks and bats. I am about to put up a second bat house we have over 600 free tails in our current box it’s only 12 feet off the ground took 3 years to be used.

Would love to do something for the swifts

[Mike Dingman]

flyin-lowe
All my houses are hand made by me. I have (2) 3 chambered houses on my property, (1) rocket box, which is a tall house, 2 chambered. I have (2) 5 chambered houses mounted back to back on a 4X4 post. The 3 chambered houses are about 18" wide and 24" high. The rocket box is about 8" wide and about 3 feet tall. The 5 chambered houses are about 24" square, they are the busiest of the other houses. I also built a 3 chambered house for my neighbor and he had little success for 2 years, and now he has a lot of bats. Mexican Free-Tailed bats. I used T-1 11 for the first couple, then went to exterior grade plywood, used water based paint, and water based stain for interior, no oil based paint, no cedar, predator guards on everything in my back yard. I put the first house up 3-27-16, limited success. This season is the first time I had my first maternity season. At least 83 births. When I count the bats exit at night, I count one house at a time for 4 nights, not unusual to get 600 bats all total. Now, I can't count them fast enough when they come out of the two, back to back 5 chambered house, I think I counted 300 at least one evening. I quit counted, just watch and drink a glass of wine.

[Mike Dingman]

ss martin
I built my swift house in spring of 2018, had it up in early April. No takers yet, but they know it's here. I lived across the street from where I live now and had swifts nest in my fireplace chimney for years and years. When I sold the house, the new owners had them for 10 more years. When another owner came along, they closed the top of the chimney as they had to put a new damper on the top of the flue, the one inside the chimney rusted out and didn't pass inspection. When I saw the swifts try and try to get in that closed flue it broke my heart. So in about 2 weeks, I built and installed a 15 foot tower. I know wild birds take there time with a new site, I hope this season is when I get them to nest here.

[Dave Reynolds]

,,,, Great News Mike. .... Good to hear they are starting to arrive... Good luck this year, and thanks for the update...

Dave

[Dave Duit]

Hi Mike,
I live in Iowa where they have a large swift tower. Here is the web address if you wish to look a little further.
https://shermanswifttower.org/althea-sherman/

Hope you like it. I first became aware of the swift tower while attending an Iowa Purple Martin Workshop and Seminar in Kalona, Iowa.

[Mike Dingman]

Thanks Mike P.
I started with a martin set up in 1999 and had good luck, then built some wood duck houses, then bat houses, then the chimney swift tower. I also joined a honey bee club and read a few short books on the subject. I would like to do the bee thing too, but they have so many issues that it may be more than I can handle, so I haven't done anything with that yet. I do live in the city limits, and my lot is only a half acre, but I do back up to a narrow river, The Eau Gallie River, and there are woods behind me, so no one can really see what is in my back yard. It's pretty private.

[flyin-lowe]

I too have kept bees in the past. Much like martins you can spend a tone of time with them or just provide the basics and they can get by on there own. I lost most of my hives a couple winters ago and only have one or two going this winter. Right now with two kids in school sports and me coaching most of the year I don't have the time to devote like I should. I might pick back up more in a few years when I get more time.

If you do decide to start keeping bees look into swarm traps. I caught a large amount of swarms for several years and haven't had to buy bees. It's possible to get started with catching swarms and save hundreds of dollars on start up.

[C.C.Martins]

Mike congrats! I suspect your martin was as happy to be home as you were to accept her. Your bats and birds sound well taken care of,
Wish you all the best!
Tom

[Mike Dingman]

flyin-lowe
Yes your so right about the commitment for the birds and bees you take responsibility for. That is why I haven't done the bee keeping yet. I used to have 54 cavities for martins, now I am down to 3 GR12 gourd racks totaling 36 Super Gourds. I built a T-14 back in about the year 2000, I liked it ok, but it was heavy, not easy to assemble each year as I take everything down at the end of the season and store it in my out building, (garage). I had several problems with snakes getting past the guards, even used the aluminum round guard put out by Andy Troyer. I took pictures of a snake actually being able to scale that aluminum guard by gaining purchase on each of the 4 pan head screws on the side of the guard and getting up to the T-14 on that. (You can see the article and pictures in the Update from the PMCA, Volume 16(2), pg. 4 and 5.) Even Andy Troyer called me on the phone when he saw that and we talked a long while about it. When I used the guard after that, I used pop rivets to hold the guard together. The article was called, Summertime, Martins and Snakes, Oh My! Spring 2007. I kept the wooden post up of course, but when that finally rotted out, (about 15 years), I stuck with 48 gourds, now down to 36. PLUS, I mentor 2 colonies for elderly friends here in town, which includes actually building/repairing/what they have, donating Super Gourds, and doing all the necessary nest checks/replacement nests, completing the martin watch data sheets and mailing all that to the PMCA. I work part time at a golf course 2 days/week, golf a couple times a week, and I turned 70 this past September. Wow, didn't realize how busy I am until I wrote it all down! However, wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks for the swarm trap information, I will put that little jewel of information with my bee stuff!

[Mike Dingman]

Hey Tom:
Thanks for the well wishes. Yesterday afternoon I was in my garage building some shelves for my work bench, and I was watching and listening for the female to return for the evening, didn't hear or see anything. That is not unusual as in the beginning of the season when there is only one bird, or very few birds, they are not loud at all and if your not watching consistently for them, they will slip right in your back yard and in the house and it is so fast, you could miss the whole thing. That is what happened last night, my wife and I were eating dinner where where have a great view of the back yard and all the gourds. I got up twice and went out for a minute or two, during dinner, to see if she was flying in those lazy, long circles around the back yard, didn't see anything. Came back in the house sat down, wasn't looking out at the time, but my wife saw her zip right back in her earlier chosen gourd rack #2, gourd #3, it was all over in about 2 seconds. After dinner I was on the back porch enjoying that glass of wine and I could see her peeking out of her gourd, I use my field glasses all the time to help identify what exactly I have out there. We actually have 7 pairs of binoculars, they are all over the place in this house and I even have one in my golf bag as we have tons of birds on the golf course especially in the winter time, none of my golfer friends know a mocking bird from a white ibis, it is fun to watch.

[Mike Dingman]

Hi Dave Duit:
I did go to that web page, didn't read it all yet, but I will later. I did read somewhere in one of my swift books about a huge open tower that held thousands of swifts and it was somewhere in the Midwest. When the swifts came in at night it was quite a sight. Anyway, I will check it out later this week, thanks for link. I also remember reading about a lady that had a tower built as a part of her house and she did a study on their behavior, and that was an interesting read, could be the same one, don't know, but I will know more when I finish reading what you sent. Thanks again!

[Dave Duit]

Hi Mike,
I don't think that was the tower with thousands of swifts. But, it is maintained today by a group of very dedicated people. I wish more people would help the swifts out by building such places. I know it takes a lot of money. Towns and organizations can be the backbone for swifts in generating the funds to build.