INSTRUCTIONS NEEDED - Mounting Camera in a Gourd

[SSMartin]

Mirrors are used as a technique to make the site appear to be occupied by other martins. So when they would peer inside the entrance the gourd would appear to have a Martin peering back.

[Bird Brain]

LOL. I was desperate for years to get my first pair and was willing to try anything. When you don't have a colony, you want visitors to hang around and investigate your site as long as possible. When a martin visitor sees himself in the mirror when peaking in the gourd, it can arouse his curiosity and cause further investigation. This can make visitors stay longer, which is good. I got this advice from this site. Someone also advised me to smear mud around the entrances. I tried that too. I don't credit either of these tactics for finally getting my first pair. I personally think good location (360 degrees of visibility for 40 feet or more), quality housing and lots of patience is the trick. But like I said, when you got zero, you'll try anything.

[sle62]

I am also curious about the mirrors in the gourds and what this does.

[MY FYN 79]

Wanted to add a couple pictures of something I’m going to try as a camera mount.

I have several different style gourds at my home site, but they seem to prefer the bo9s for some reason. I screwed the blink mount to inside of cover as shown here, but at least in the bo9 it seemed like it stuck into the gourd kind of far.

I used a hole saw and cut out a round piece of wood. Then I used a smaller hole saw to cut a hole (not all the way through) that once chiseled out would recess the blink mount. Painted it and screwed it to the cover with silicone to eliminate leaks.

Gotta give it some time for the paint to totally dry, but planning to give it a try tonight.

[MY FYN 79]

I decided to screw the camera cap onto a Troyer horizontal gourd they have been showing interest in. Didn’t seem to spook them at all. I also didn’t realize how much they snuggled at night, granted it is cold and rainy here. Happy with the results of camera so far!

[Matt F.]

Here's a camera mounting solution I found and used some years back.
It allows the camera to be mounted a little farther away from the nesting area, providing a wider field of view:
https://eplumer.blogspot.com/2016/06/pu ... amera.html

[SSMartin]

Good ideas. I have mine just on the cap and they do seem to stick in far. The birds don’t seem to care but the viewing angle isn’t the best.

Pulled back gives a much better view of the interior.

[MY FYN 79]

I built a couple more camera mounts and pulled the camera back even further. Gonna try them out once the paint dries.

Side note, what an amazing thing to watch the birds inside the gourd. The female is sitting on eggs and the male keeps coming in and dropping green leaves on her head. LOL. Dang thoughtless guys.