A new 6-gourd in East Winnipeg

[atrauzzi]

Hello to the forum! Just wanted to introduce myself and describe my setup to see if anyone has tips or words of encouragement.

I became interested in Purple Martins last Summer after seeing a very active house in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. I heard the sounds the birds were making and saw how active they were and used an app to identify them. A few Wikipedia and YouTube rabbit holes and some visits to PMCA later and my interest had been piqued.

So for my birthday this year, my wife got me the PMCA starter kit and I just finished putting it up this past weekend. I now have six PMCA Excluder 2 gourds in my back yard!

I live within the city limits, so I have placed the pole as far from my house as I could get away with (40ft), and as far from any trees in my back yard as I have space for. I have a nice clear (170 degree-ish?) approach to the East for my feeder, and another 40-ish degree opening to the West.

Regarding negative factors, the only big ones I believe are the two small trees in my back yard and a street light in my back lane.
I've dramatically trimmed back the smallest tree of the two that is around 12-20 feet from the feeder so that it doesn't exceed it in height. The bigger tree is about 30ft from the pole. The house I saw in Foam Lake had quite a few tall trees around it, so I'm hoping that I can overcome all these shortcomings by following all the good advice I've been reading.

The positives are: I've been hanging a bluetooth speaker on the rack, playing the dawnsong in the mornings and evenings. I have some nice fresh straw in the gourds. I've put a bit of mud around the entrances and porches.

I'm hoping that all this is enough to attract in my first year, though I know to not get my hopes up as it can take several.

Anyway, checking the scout map daily now, hoping to see more yellow dots nearby as I suspect any day now the scouts will be in my area!

[CTMartins]

I'm a dot stalker too. There's a 12 step program somewhere on this site for us. You're doing it right and keep at it. If your site is good they will find you. I've tried getting others here to give their extra birds directions to my house but that and even posting my site on apartments.com isnt working as of yet. Other members tell me the birds can't read but how else would they know how to get to their sites?

[randyM]

Welcome to the club! I'm 475 km SSW of Winnipeg and have observed a handful of SY male and female martins arrive at my site over the past few days, with the peak influx of SY birds typically occurring during the next 3 weeks. So birds most likely to start a new colony are headed your way. They should keep arriving through mid- to late June. I've had SY nests initiated the first week of July. If you have any martin decoys be sure to place them on/near your gourd rack. If you don't get any martin visitors during this nesting season, be sure to continue to play your martin CD each day through the first week of Sept. Martins migrating south may stop and visit your site and remember it on their migration norward next spring. I have a well-established colony and begin playing the martin CD when the last nest of my colony fledges. I usually attract a few dozen martins during the course of the fall migration.

Best of luck to you this season and beyond!

Randy

[DeeCee]

Wishing you success on your first season! All it takes is 1 couple to start a colony. Keep us posted.

[Jones4381]

Cheers! Welcome and wishing you the best. You've researched, prepped, and now the agony of anticipation has begun. Welcome to the club sir and best of luck drawing in your first pair...

[John Miller]

Welcome to the Forum. I'm always surprised at how many martins are in your area. Suggest checking your entrances on the Excluder Gourds to make sure they are not undersized. This has been a continuing problem for several seasons, although the PMCA says repeatedly that the problem is fixed. You can search the forum for "no go gauge" or "no-go gauge" for tips on how to measure.

[atrauzzi]

Will do! Thanks for the tip, I'll put in whatever effort is necessary! I'm desperate to get some in my first season, but I'm also just as happy to be set up for success next year.

There is an established bird house at a large bioreserve about 1.5km directly North West of me. You can just see it peeking around the trees here. It was just chattering today with adult Purple Martins flying around and very active. It was completely quiet when I checked only a few days ago, so I feel like they only just arrived. I noticed that there were also some sparrows in some of the boxes as well, so it looks like it might be common for martins and sparrows to be neighbours? Just perhaps so long as they don't share a porch?
The conditions there are perfect compared to my back yard which is in a residential area, but I'm still hoping I can somehow get any collateral benefit from being somewhat nearby...

In other news, I caught what I believe were sparrows going into my PMCA Excluder II gourds today. They seemed to have no trouble with the entrance, despite me having the porches tight within a mm of the bottom of the openings. I lowered the gourds which seemed to scare them off, and some of the gourds even had some materials brought up into them which wasn't the straw I originally had in there. I'll probably go and check tonight just to see if they think it's their home.

I suppose on the one hand, it's a good sign because it means birds can fit in the holes and that my location and setup is in some way desirable. I just need to make sure it's purple martins that I get and not an assortment of other birds.

My son suggested I put up birdhouses for the other types nearby...

[jhcox]

The good news from what I understand is that only around 2% of the Martins fledged from a site return to that site so the rest have to go somewhere to start a new colony or add to an existing colony. And as far as the sparrows. If it is European house sparrows, you need to dispatch down or block your gorge so they can’t make entry. If they’re allowed to nest in one of your doors, they will run any interested martins away when they arrive. Good luck this year and I hope you’re one of the rare Martin landlords that get their colony started the first year it took me two or three years to get my first pair. But had 64 pair last year and they pledged around 300 young last year so hopefully they’re starting a colony here in East Tennessee, for some other hopeful landlord . God bless. JHCOX Heiskell TN

[John Miller]

Sparrows can enter a SREH smaller than to spec. If link works, this is a photo of a "no go gauge" to measure (too awkward with a ruler)...it's a wedge here cut from plastic, or can use white poster board. Draw a line at 1 3/16 (you can convert measure to decimals) and should stop when inserted into a crescent. Entrances with pips, such as the Modified Excluder, can go to 1 7/32, but no larger or will let starlings in. (photo shows original excluder at 1 3/16) Measure very carefully. download/file.php?id=11023 "If" your entrances are too small, use a scrap of sandpaper and thumb pressure to open; don't over open using a utility knife -- go slowly. Can use a drimmel...but don't over open.

[atrauzzi]

@jhcox -- Regarding the sparrows, yes, they had only been able to bring in one or two small little knots of dry grass before I noticed. Scared them off and they don't seem to be returning to make another attempt. I'm continuously (read: obsessively) monitoring the gourds, so if anything gets in that isn't a PM, I'll know.

@John Miller -- I did what you suggested and the openings appear to be the right size! One of the gourds I received looks like it had some cutting done around its entrance "from the factory". It's a bit of a bodge, but the size is right.

---

My two missing rods for the top of my rack arrived today (they were lost during shipping). So, I took the pole down and got the two perch rods installed. Am feeling very accomplished at this point as I've now done as much as I can to create an attractive spot. I also moved my decoy so that it's poking out of one of the gourds, onto the porch. Always have to do a double take because I get excited thinking it's a real bird.

Question for the group: We have crows in the area. Would the presence of crows be enough to scare off purple martins, or are they confident enough to see the gourd-style nest and want to use it, regardless of what goes on in the area?

[John Miller]

There's actually an old tradition of erecting housing for martins to help chase crows away from a garden. But, crows can be helpful to alert martins to danger, such as a Cooper's Hawk. I suppose a nesting pair of crows very close by might make prospective martins at a site not yet established a little more hesitant. We know crows will raid open bird nests, such as American Robins, and potentially might take a baby martin from a porch -- but they would be mobbed by martins. Overall, I don't think a few crows would significantly reduce one's chances of establishing a colony and once established, I'd welcome them to deter hawks.

[atrauzzi]

How neat. I don't think the crows are nesting close to my gourd rack, so I should be good. But they definitely come flying around any time I play the dawnsong.

Actually - on that: Is there a specific volume I have to reach with the dawnsong for it to be at all effective? I'm playing it from a JBL Clip speaker just hanging on the rack right now. I max out the volume, but I sometimes wonder if that's getting enough reach?

[Jones4381]

There's actually an old tradition of erecting housing for martins to help chase crows away from a garden. But, crows can be helpful to alert martins to danger, such as a Cooper's Hawk. I suppose a nesting pair of crows very close by might make prospective martins at a site not yet established a little more hesitant. We know crows will raid open bird nests, such as American Robins, and potentially might take a baby martin from a porch -- but they would be mobbed by martins. Overall, I don't think a few crows would significantly reduce one's chances of establishing a colony and once established, I'd welcome them to deter hawks.

American Crow is the one of the smartest if not the smartest of all the avians out there. Have a flock of 6-8 about 150 yards away in the tops of large/old white pines. They are constantly chasing away any Hawk and/or alerting along with the Jays and other swallows. Great to have around in my area for any martin enthusiast. I think the Fish Crow is the one that prey on Martins. Good luck and to your JBL playing loud...yeah they hear it