Excluder gourds-screw on cover

[David W]

Before the Martins arrived I bought 12 Excluder gourds and put them together and hung them along with my other gourds that had the crescent shaped openings. The replaced ones had just the round hole and I was tired of starlings using them. Martins started to arrive and looked in the Excluded but went to the crescent ones. After the sub adults started to arrive a month later a few went into the Excluder gourds and wound up with 16 pair out of 24 gourds, not good.
Anyway in the last few days I noticed something shiny underneath the gourd rack, went out there and found two screw-on covers and one small cap from the other gourds. Checked my records and the all had eggs and a few babies. Lowered rack and found out they were now empty. This happens at night. Thought it might be a raccoon but the out-riggers that the gourds are on is 1/2" galvanized conduit and I don't know how they would get out there, other possibility is an owl,.....but how is the cover being unscrewed? Losing eggs and young ones fast and could use a suggestion. In all the years I have had gourds, no problem but starlings in a few of the crescent ones.
Also on the Excluder gourds I'm thinking next season to remove the Excluder features and make them crescent openings to make it easier to go in. The larger adult Martins struggle to get in. and the opening is 1 3/16"

[Phil01]

Dang man, very sorry to hear that! The only predator I can think of agile enough the actually unscrew a cap on a gourd is a raccoon. They are smart and very good with their hands… Do you have a predator guard at the bottom of your pole? If they can climb the pole they can probably climb out on the outrigger to get to the gourd..

As far as the excluder entrances… I don’t have any but from having different style entrances here my martins always go for what’s familiar first, then move over to what’s new. If they are the correct size I would think they’d figure them out… If you decide to change from excluder to crescent they are still going to be starling resistant, so no bad choice there.
Phil

[David W]

Thanks for the reply Phil. My gourd rack is a homemade one that originally had a wooden 14 house set-up, Martins would look buy not go in, starlings took over and this happened for 3 years. Finally went to gourds and started getting nesting Martins. The winch is about 12" off the ground, so using any kind of deterrent will not work. I will put up a trail camera to see what is happening because now what ever it is will be coming back for an easy meal.

[Phil01]

Of course! If I were betting money, I’d say raccoon. I’m by no means an expert though. I have the detachable predator guards the PMCA sells mounted above the pulley for my cable, top 48 inches above the pulley. Obviously with a homemade rack you will have to be creative… You’ll want it removable so you can lower the rack.. Maybe if you post a pic on here others with homemade, removable predator guards can give you some suggestions?
Phil

[Martintown33]

You can try a removable pole guard. It’s a 3 to 4 foot metal tube that fits around your pole. It can be removed for nest checks , then put back on.. pmca sells them and other sites too, or you can build one.. if it’s a raccoon , a pole guard should stop him from climbing up the pole..
Good luck,
Rob

[C.C.Martins]

Think the guys gave good suggestions for the predator guard.
As far as your gourd entrances, if you want to change them, just do a few id suggest.
Honestly, they get in them just fine, if they were used to round then crescent, it will take them a bit. I have excluders and modified excluder openings on excluder gourds; plus troyer tunnels on a trio mini castle- I put the wing entrapment protectors over the troyer entrances. They like the crescent openings but subbies, ASY you name it took to the modified ecluder-and its very restrictive- like water. Give it a try, your starling problems will be a thing of the past.
Do crescent openings on a few you can watch and faces your activity. Starlings can wiggle into a crescent.
Hope all this helps!
Tom

[David W]

Thanks to all that responded. Since I put the raccoon guard up three days ago thankfully it is working and the martins seem happy. I will have to replace the one pole for gourds 22, 23 and 24. You van see how it is bent from the weight of the raccoon and had to replace the pole beneath that one because it was hanging down parallel to the pole.
In my original post I said that I had crescent shaped openngs but only on 12, the others had round openings and these are the ones I replaced with the excluder ones. I guess they will get use to them in the future. They are very nice gourds.

[C.C.Martins]

Sir, that looks medieval! I wouldn't want to mess....

[C.C.Martins]

Duplicate

[Martintown33]

Wow! That’s a predator guard! I’ve never seen one built in that manner, but whatever works!! What kind of spikes did you use? Are they metal? Necessity is the mother of invention! Very cool.. I’m glad it worked and it stopped your intruder!
Great job.
Rob

[David W]

They are made out of plastic for keeping birds off window sills, etc. They are 4" long. I had ordered different ones but I wouldn't get them for a few days and I couldn't wait so I went to my neighbor's house and asked if he had a pneumatic air nailer that takes at least 2" nails, I told him what I wanted to use if for and he went in and came back out with a box of these, 20 of them and so we built this around the base. I did get the new ones and they are plastic cone-shaped and are also 4" long and very pointy. Might change over after I take the gourds down.
Not sure if they will re-nest at this time, I lost about a dozen babies. I'm guessing that when the commotion started the adults left the gourds because I didn't see any remains or feathers on the ground.

[C.C.Martins]

If your able to have a camera up, just watch and see what happens. Imagine a burly raccoon trying to climb it, they won't break off? I think it looks awesome, you did some work there.
Never know what the martins will do, sure they escaped in the night. May go to another gourd.

[Phil01]

YIKES! It scared me to just look at it! lol Never seen one like that before either, very creative. Agree with Tom, keep an eye on it in case they can break the spikes off… Glad it has helped and no further predators. Great job!
Phil

[Martintown33]

As Tom and Phil mentioned, it Might be a good idea to mount a game cam to monitor it. Raccoons are cagey, smart, and determined. He may learn how to navigate the spikes. A typical round metal pole guard is smooth and sways when pressure is put on it.. that makes it impossible for a raccoon , squirrel, opossums etc, to get their claws into it and climb it. The spikes probably hurt the raccoons feet , but he may still be able to defeat it, if he’s determined enough. I hope it continues to work. Hopefully it was painful enough for him that he moved on to easier prey. Either way, it’s a good idea.. hope it keeps him him away..
By the way, Amazon sells big baffles that are made for 4x4 posts. Baffles are also difficult for ground predators to defeat. You may want to double up and put the baffle on too. Just a thought.
Good luck !
Rob