Pre-Nesting? Decoys? House is Up

[wroeske22]

This will be my second year trying to get a pair of purple martins. Last year I had many visitors but no takers. I am wondering if I should pre nest the housing and gourds. Also wondering if having a decoy is a good idea. I am offering a lot of different types of housing this year and am curious to see what their first pick will be.

[C.C.Martins]

I wish you all the best in attracting them! Good looking set up, always thought a house and gourd combo helps to attract. Visitors are a good sign.
Why not do both? Prenest will make it looked lived in, may help them decide to stay.
Decoys are always a good idea for two reasons: looks like a martin is there, and if a hawk comes calling may just go after it.
Really hope you get your martins. If id bet on what they pick first: the house!
Tom

[flyin-lowe]

Based solely on my experience.....

Decoys, at a new colony can be hit or miss. I have had some martins that acted as if they were frightened of a decoy and try to fight with it and would not even pay attention to the housing as long as the decoy was up. Once you get a colony established they are more useful to help with hawk attacks. Often times the hawks will come in and look for the easiest target, a martin that is not moving or does not fly off which will be the decoy.

Pre-nesting, I usually pre nest a majority of my cavities but always leave a few empty. From time to time I have martins that arrive and remove the nesting material and want to start fresh. I like to have cavities with nesting material available for the early arrivals who might experience some cold nights. Every year at the end of the season when I clean out my cavities I find some that have nest built over the top of the pre nesting material. I have some that had the pre nesting material removed. I also see a few SY martins every year who don't build much of a nest at all and only use the pre nesting material.

[deancamp]

You have lots of good options on one pole. That's great to give them choices. I've heard some landlords say their Martins prefer houses and others gourds. The one thing Martins like is other Martins! If you think of it that way try and make your housing look like other Martins are living there. A decoy and prenesting both do that for the reasons Tom stated. Another thing you can do to make it look like Martins are living there is smear a little mud around the entrance holes. Here is an example of how the Martins made this entry hole dirty. Good Luck and don't give up, your hard work will be rewarded.

[deancamp]

Oh, and don't forget the dawn song. I think that's the number 1 attractant.

[wroeske22]

Thank you for the replies. I will pre nest some cavities and leave the decoy up for now. I smeared mud on some entrances last year and have a mirror in one of the holes. Last year i started playing the dawn song and the next day I had my first visitor. I’m very interested to see which of the many compartments is chosen first, if I ever get that first pair.

[brent]

I pre-nest with pine needles only. I used straw hay once but it is not a good material for me here since once it’s wet it is a mess and I have had chicks get tangled in it. I think the martins like having a place that has something they can cozy in. Pre-nesting does that especially early in the season when you can have some really cold nights. I use decoys because it does help get the attention of the hawk that has just arrived and is not familiar with the set up. I have seen, first hand, a hawk hit a decoy bewildered while the martins escaped. It doesn’t always work. When I first started I put the decoys up after the martins arrived. What a mistake. The martins were so upset and kept dive bombing the decoys to the point I had to remove them. I even called PMCA and asked if they ever heard of such a thing. They recommended I remove the decoys. Since then I put them up when I see the first arrival. Haven’t had a problem since except last year once the chicks were hatching some very protective parents were concerned about the “other birds”. Hope this helps and good luck! Brent

[Thomas Maddox]

Lots of great advice here. Don't forget predator guards. Sounds like you are doing everything you can! Best of luck!

[birdman in buckhead]

wroeske22,

What a great set up! You're profile says you're only 18. so I assume you;'re very interested in purple martins/birds and/or bored LOL! If/when you get a colony established it will be vrey rewarding and something you will look forward to every spring when they arrive and be bummed our every time they leave after breeding. I'll offer some advice, but many other landlords on this site have much more experience than I do.
- This site has tons of information, advice, opinions, and links to other sites with more info about purple martins! Do a serach of this forum for any question or advice and I can almost guaranttee you'll find what you're looking for!
- Your set up has every type of house a martin could ever want, so no worries there.
- I don't put any nesting material in the units, but I do put pine needles and other nest stuff on the ground near the housing.,
- Decoys.....? Last year, I put 3 up attempting to fool hawks into attacking the decoy and not a live bird. It didn't work for me. Like another landlord said, the birds hated the decoy I put on the house. It was removed minutes after it was put up. And the hawks paid no attention to the ones put up on the fence surrourding my backyard.
- A BIG YES TO THE DAWN SONG. You can find many copies on the internet to download. IMO, it does not need to be played at dawn, even though that's when the birds fly around singing it. I was playing it in mid-afternoon when I attracted my first birds!

Good Luck! Keep the forum up to date!