Our Forum

[rrmartins]

Social media ruined it, what a shame. :(

[Conrad Baker]

Can you explain?

[sugarcreek]

I agree with you in, However its also easier to post pictures etc. Sometimes you have to go with the flow.

[Thomas Maddox]

I like this forum as it is the ONLY one I visit that isn't of political fighting and trolls. I do wish it were a little more active.

[Dave Reynolds]

... I'm sure some of our members use Face Book now, and forget to come back and visit us from time to time...

Dave

[John Evans]

I-love this forum.. I lurk a lot. Facebook is too hard to follow and agreed a lot more aggressive tones and opinions and chest thumping.

BTW we have approx. 20 pairs and nest building began early last week of February hot and heavy. Our first arrival was early as well Jan 2.

Pretty sure we have SY's here(females for sure) just haven't been able to pin down a male yet.

Have a wonderful season all!

John

[frankw1]

I consider this the place to get reliable information from experienced landlords. Facebook is more of a hodge podge of semi-helpful information you have to wade through.

[C.C.Martins]

This is the go to place. It seems more helpful, grounded to martins and their upkeep. For me, this is about as "social media" I could ask for or want.

[MKaye]

I also consider the forum a wonderful place for reliable information from all the pros. I’ve been so thankful for your quick reply’s when I needed help. So, thanks to all and please keep sending all your info. I read most every day during the season and learn something each time. MKaye

[C.C.Martins]

MKaye,
I find those very old posts to be real helpful! Off season I was reading anything to deal with sparrows, there's a wealth of information here....I used those ideas to the fullest.
Tom

[Sharon - Central TX]

I have to agree the forum is much better than social media. I’ve always found the people here to be super helpful and caring. If it hadn’t been for the forum we would have given up after our first and only pair showed up years ago. Even though we had a baffle, a rat snake got up the pole and got all six babies and the mom. I was completely heartbroken. My husband removed the gourd with the snake still in it and replaced it with another. When the male returned looking for his family it was obvious he was confused. Witnessing that made the loss even worse.
I was going to quit after that but the individuals here were so encouraging and understanding. No judgment whatsoever. It was because of the kindness that we kept going. No blame whatsoever.
There used to be many more very experienced landlords on here and I miss their input. But I dislike the sometimes unkind and judgmental comments on social media. Dealing with hawks and snakes going after the martins is stress enough for this person!
We’ve learned so much here over the years and every year is different than the last. We never quit learning about caring for these beautiful birds that bring so much joy.
Sharon

[mwren]

John Evans....is that Hillsboro John from Ohio? I hope all is well with you John. We are watching the weather man to try to figure how soon we will see some of our birds returning. Hopefully they will be dressed for our typical late March cold weather and maybe even some snow !
I have lots of meal worms and crickets so all is good here!
Last season started out with some dangerous arrival weather for our birds. The year started out kind of slow, but by the end of the season we had banded 317 baby birds. We will be watching for arrival of any and all banded birds! Now that I have been flipping supplemental feedings to our early arrivals, it is easy to recognize birds that we have raised because they will be catching the first meal worms we flip at them. Birds that were not raised in this colony will take a while to figure out what the old man with the large white serving spoon is doing down there!!
Good luck to all Landlords out there. Get that serving spoon ready to go! I even enjoy the song sparrows that have learned to beg for meal worms when I am on the grounds below the Colony. Our Bluebirds have been feeding on meal worms most of the winter, so they are always waiting for me to get down to the colony with a couple hundred meal worms every feeding. It is really fun to watch the bluebirds teach their fledglings to catch flipped mealies, or chase them down and find them on the ground. Their eyesight is something else!

Good luck to all Landlords out there.....especially you LSU Tiger fans who are now Cincy Bengal fans !!!

"Bird"

[brent]

No doubt about it, I am reliant on this forum. It’s my connection. I don’t always respond but I am always reading and learning. Sharon and others stated everything. It’s great to see the postings entered as the martins make their journey north. It certainly makes me appreciate the milder weather we have in the south as I read posts from our northern friends. Keep it up and good luck to everyone.
Brent

[MJM]

I don't have the time nor stamina for Faceplace. This forum has everything you need to be a martin keeper in spades (sorry I don't like the landlord term, lol). I can search the forum and find tons of articles filled with knowledge... whereas Faceplace they just spam the same questions over, and over, and over. It's truly exhausting. I don't want to read posts all day I want to spend time with the birds.

[John Evans]

Mike Wren, it is I. Started over down here. Have a trendsetter 12 with 4 hanging gourds and a rack with six excluders That was all I could fit on this postage stamp yard All close to the house and pool cage. Luckily we live on a fairway so lots of open space behind us. Got lucky and got martins the first year.. Hope you're well

Take care my friend and good luck!

John

[Spiderman]

I’m not really a Facebook kind of guy. I like this site and the opportunity to track the Martins as they advance across the Country.

I wish it was easier to post pictures here, but I’ve seen a lot of Martin pictures before.

I think there is enough knowledge here to guide most people to have a successful Martin Colony and solve any problems individuals run into along the way.

[deancamp]

There is a lot of good information and people with a lot of experience and knowledge to draw from here. I think what really makes the forum go is when someone that is trying to start a colony or is new to being a landlord asks questions or asks for advice. That's when the experience and different ways to approach an issue comes out. With that being said, I would encourage anyone trying to start a colony to ask any questions you might have. You will get lots of valuable information.

[flyin-lowe]

Youll find as the martins make it further and further north more people will get on the forum and it will pick up. I agree a lot more younger people use Facebook but some of the older crowd will stick around. I am one who has never been on FB.

[mwren]

John,

Great that you got birds your first season after your move! I wonder if the people who moved into your great spot near Hillsboro have birds after you left and moved to Fla.??
How is your golf game.? Probably pretty good if you live right on a fairway!
Enjoy your birds 11

I had a strange season last year., I believe that the bad weather we had in February cost my colony to lose some birds. I think that I got caught up later as other birds found my colony, and we ended up with a banner year with one exception......I did not see as many banded birds last season and I think this might be added evidence that I may have lost some birds on their migration north. The birds were a bit late with their nesting, but they made up for lost time, and we ended up banding over 300 babies.

Good luck and have fun watching your birds.

"Bird"

[tor]

I like this forum as well. However, it has a pretty clunky user interface, and the user setup choices are petty limited. But, the main objective here is to help landlords or prospective landlords with their setups, and answer question they might have.

phpBB Forum software is a pretty decent. I suspect it is currently running with minimum features, which might be because of limited "horse power" on the hardware back end.
It comes down to how much you are willing to pay on the web hosting side.