Getting antsy in Wisconsin :) 2022 Optimism?

[MY FYN 79]

Howdy All!

As we get older and the stress piles on with life in general, children growing up and getting smarter than we are, work responsibility etc., I find myself drawn more towards the "simple" things in life. If you would have told 20 year old me how much I'd like gardening, bird houses and fruit trees, I'da though you were nuts. But here we are.

A run down of where I've been and my reasons for optimism for the 2022 Purple Martin season -

First year for me was 2019.

2019 - Built a custom rack and put up 6 BO9s. Saw one Martin throughout the whole season.
2020 - Kept housing the same. Had a Martin here and there, saw one pair fluttering in and out of gourds a little bit. Nothing stuck.
2021 - Kept housing the same. Had more regular Martin activity. Think I have pictures of 6 at one time. Had a pair fluttering in and out of gourds
for a couple days. Got a pair of eggs. Above average Sparrow activity and they eventually poked holes in both Martin eggs. Immediately bought a
repeater trap and trapped 37 Sparrows last year.

2022 - Very excited for this year. Gonna keep on trapping Sparrows. I upgraded to 6 of the BO11s with all the bells and whistles. So far we sadly cut down
5 of our many many large Ash trees because they are dead. But this REALLY opens up the front yard around where I have the housing. These ash
trees being gone created 2 huge new runways around the Martin housing, so silver lining there!

That's my story. Anyone else wanna share their optimism for 2022?

[deancamp]

Good Luck MY!! I suppose your playing the dawn song, etc..... l have 33 total cavities and had 31 nesting pairs last year. I'm not going to add additional gourds or housing so hoping to keep it near capacity. I will be helping my neighbor start a colony and am optimistic she can attract several pair.

[C.C.Martins]

Hey good luck!! Good outlook you have; it is the best way to go in the martin world.
Your doing the right things, you will refine them as you go along. Glad to hear your after those sparrows....trapped and shot 103 sparrows last season...got one this season. They are scarce around our block now but if I drive three streets over, place is lousy with them. Never ending supply so keep after them. Think about a good pellet rifle, sometimes traps work, when they are focused on a house, shooting is best option.
Marking time here way south of you-i believe we will fill up, the sucessful martins and the single hangers on will be back...just very slow rt now. I'm thinking of taking up quilting.

[Whippy]

MF-79,

I'm with you. If you told me 20 years ago I'd be hanging out by my windows all day and out in the yard all day chasing hawks and taking care of my martins I would have told you to pour me another beer and to have 3 yourself.

So here I am now with 46 cavities mixture of gourds, T-14 and a 6 room Trio Wade. Looking for a new location for my mannequin and where I'm going to add another. I haven't seen a hawk in my airspace yet but did see one fly by on the next street over.

Martins are closing in on me as I look at the arrival map but we also have a cold snap coming on Thursday. I can wait 7 more days if my Martins can.

The best thing I ever did was put tunnels on all of my housing except for the Trio. Once the tunnels went on I began to grow every year. So I'm assuming the "bells and whistles" are actually tunnels and crescent entrances. I have tunnels on my Bo11+ gourds and they are very popular.

Opening the flyway also took away ambush points for the hawks so that's a huge positive.

I would love to see pictures of your set up.

Good luck to you this year.

Coolwhips

[MY FYN 79]

Thanks for the kind words folks.

I bought the cooling caps, tunnels and crescent entrances for the BO11+. Had all those on the BO9s also.

Once I'm off my phone I'll try getting up some pictures.

Quilting might be a little extreme!! :D

[C.C.Martins]

Haha! Couldnt resist the old guy joke. I realized I was that guy a few years ago.
I'd put in a rock garden in a patch in front when we first moved in; petrified wood, some cactus etc. Took a bit of time to get it all arranged. Some boys across the street were playing around, and one started messing around with the rocks! I was on the roof putting up Christmas lights and said "are you INSANE?! Stay off the rocks!!" Immediately one boy escorted him off the rocks, patting him on the back, and said "its ok, hes a new kid, its ok.

I realized I'm that guy.

[MY FYN 79]

Gourd mount which goes around pole:

Martins 2022 1.jpg (23.22 KiB) Viewed 3949 times

Pole with winch - Notice 4 cut down tree stumps in background. Just beyond the photo on the right is the barn. Those 4 ash trees had the area sealed off quite well:

Martins 2022.jpg (18.79 KiB) Viewed 3949 times

Close up of the pole and winch setup:

Martins 2022 2.jpg (14.62 KiB) Viewed 3949 times

I should dig up some pictures of the old BO9s up there with the ash trees in the background.

[MY FYN 79]

Couple pictures from 2021.

Old BO9s up in place -

Martins 2021 BO9.jpg (41.56 KiB) Viewed 3887 times

The small flock I'm very proud of

Martins 2021 WIres.jpg (16.91 KiB) Viewed 3887 times

My first eggs!

Martins 2021 Eggs.jpg (25.93 KiB) Viewed 3887 times

Some help from Sparrows. Note the poke holes

Martins 2021 Broken Eggs.jpg (25.43 KiB) Viewed 3887 times

Hoping with trapping and shooting of sparrows we can get some Martins hatched out this year. We also have a lot of hawks in the area (actually had a hawk kill one of our chickens), but have never seen them mess with the Martins yet. Hopefully that continues. Very excited for 2022!

[C.C.Martins]

Wonderful pictures, and yes a flock to be proud of.

What sort of sparrow traps do you have in mind?
Some simple nest box traps with van ert traps would be effective im thinking. Reduce the entrance just a bit so a martin can't enter and place them near your martin house.
Thanks for sharing the pictures!
Tom

[deancamp]

Nice setup MY, that's a stout gourd rack pole! Do you have a predator guard for it as well?

[MY FYN 79]

I bought a repeater trap last year as soon as the eggs got holes punched in them. Got 37 sparrows last year with the trap out.

I just bought a van ert from your recommendation CC. My wife sits in the garage a lot and keeps an eye on the Martins, she can let me know if the trap is tripped. Good call on that.

Haven't had the need for a predator guard yet. Raccoons are heavily trapped around here, but not a bad idea. Normally you see thin sheetmetal wrapped around power poles here, wonder if I could get lucky enough to find the right size PVC, cut it in half, then screw the 2 halves back onto the pole. Little more challenging with the power pole and the fact you need to split whatever goes around it.

[MY FYN 79]

Oh yah, I've never seen squirrels on these power wires. We had a couple daredevil ones messing around on the roof of our house. I must say though - as much as I love nature, action gets taken when it start messing with the homestead if you know what I mean. There are thousands of acres of woods around me, go play there.

[C.C.Martins]

Those van ert traps work great, caught lots of sparrows and starlings. Trick is getting them out, so I made two types: one the whole side swings up to get the bird out, other has a smaller escape hole covered by a door that pivots on a screw. Getting them out: put the whole house in a clear plastic bag and seal it off, open the door and when it flies out it will settle in lowest part of the bag, just retrieve it from there. If its native, gets to fly away.

With that repeating trap you could place the sparrow in it to draw in others. Took a bit of what I learned here and put a nest box for them to get out of the elements, bit of food water and grit and they will last a good while.

PS: All the nest box traps have to have a way to get the trap in there and set it or spring it, so either the side or top can be made on a hinge.
Good luck this season!
Tom

[deancamp]

I hear you on the homestead! That's the thing about a predator guard, you never know you need it until it's too late. I think they're worth it if you are able to i stall one. Maybe some hvac duct.

[Jones4381]

That's my story. Anyone else wanna share their optimism for 2022?
[/quote]
I know its going to be another new adventure with excitements, setbacks, and mostly exhuberations for being the lucky ones to have learned its whats the whole purpose is to show kindness and respect for all our animal friends and foes. Seriously I think this may be the best year yet for me going into yr 3 of being awake and just appreciating the dedication, commitments, tenacity, pursurverence, and joy I now actually witness. I hope you have a great 2022 in WI friend.

[kclem]

Hi. I am in Wisconsin also and I am optimistic for my second year. I built a house with 14 cavities during the first year of the pandemic and put it up for the first time last season. I am lucky to have a place on a small lake with several other Martin houses established on other properties on the lake. I had five nests, three pair that laid eggs, and seven young that fledged. I trapped several sparrows. The ice is off of the lake now, so I will be putting up our pier and attaching the house soon. Good luck for this season.

[MY FYN 79]

Didn't see or hear any Martins yet, but someone posted a scout spotting in Hilbert which is just down the road. Fingers crossed for a sighting, and fingers crossed for the weather to clear up a little too!

[sldnk1]

I'm with you in Wisconsin! I have had at least one pair the last 3 years but the last 2 years the birds seem to abandon the nest with eggs. happened to my blue birds in 2020 and tree swallows in 21 along with one pair of Martin's the same year. I do have poplar trees in my back yard that have gotten pretty big and I have been on the fence to cut them down and replace with pine trees for noise and line of sight in winter since my back yard is close to a busy road. I'm trying decoys for the first time and always try to keep up on the Dawnsong recording. Feeling hopeful

[Rafke77]

I really like the use of the utility pole!