New York Posters

[oneidalaker]

Was wondering who, if any posters are from New York and if so where is your colony located and what type of housing do you offer? I've had my colony on the south shore (about 5 miles from the west end) on Oneida Lake for over 25 years. The colony currently consists of a Trio Castle and a Nature House Musselman. Both converted to 6 X 12-inch compartments. This site was used by 13 successful pair which fledged some 63 young (not exactly sure of the count as I don't have my notes with me). This year I converted some 6 openings to Excluders, of which one SY pair used successfully. The other 12 successful nesting pairs were ASYs which used round holed compartments exclusively. I also have 8 gourds with cresent shaped openings. Only one pair (SY birds) made a nest in one of the gourds. Unfortunely, for what ever reason no eggs were laid although the pair hung around the colony for the season.
Next season I'll be adding an eight compartment PVC castle (haven't decided what shape opening to go with yet and 3 gourds with round holes.

[Guest]

i'm in western ny, no active colony yet. i have a t-8 with 4 round and 4 WDC's. four gourds underneath, 2 round supergourds and 2 round naturals. have had visitors the last 3 yrs.

there are 2 active colonies within 5-10 miles, both are unmodified aluminum houses. my housing is 10x better, but you know martins and their loyalty.

[oneidalaker]

I hope you get some birds next year. From what I've read in the New York State Nesting Survey the martin population is expanding in western NY so don't give up hope. Sounds like you're doing everything right with the varied nesting options. In the past I put up natural gourds and they were immediately filled (given preference) to the existing housing that I then offered. You also might want to try (and you most like already are) putting pre-built nests in the compartments, placing a mirror or two in/on the housing, placing a decoy or two on the housing and playing the dawn song and chatter CDs. This year the SY birds arrived around May 26th. Best of luck next year!!

[cransy]

Most of the fledging are out except about 10.Several martins have already left. About two weeks left of martins and their gone. Best percentage ever. Check out the pictures in Watkins Glen, ny.

[Martin man RI]

Hi Cransy
From what i can see super gourds really the top of the line housing It
seems every one that has super gourds has a ton of Martins even here in
New England the landlords that have modified and changed over to super gourds have record numbers of martins. I lost all my Martins in a rare
winter type ocean storm in May i'm just happy that landlords west of me were
not affected and i have hope that there will be a healthy over flow of SY
birds back in this area that has seen the worst weather since the 1960's
Great pictures and you have given me hope after such bad experience in
May. Ray in RI

[Guest]

i have decoys and the 2 cd's, and i put pine needles/cedar shavings in the compartments. i had mirrors on my old aluminum house.

i had an ASY male on apr 15, and a cpl subbie males in may and june. the one guy with 1 aluminum house actually looked like he had quite a few pairs this yr. last yr looked like a bad year for him. i figure my best chance is to get ones that failed at these poor sites.

[oneidalaker]

I figured you were doing all of the right things, I hope I didn't sound condenscending, was just trying to cover all of the bases. Seems to me that its just a matter of time as eventually you'll be attracting some of your neighbors SY birds.
Thanks for the reply, I'm presenting a seminar in February and your response will be helpful when I tell the attendents what NY landlords are doing.

[oneidalaker]

Great photos!!! Nice to see the use of gourds in New York. In 1990 I did an audit of housing types on Oneida Lake. 90% of the some 400 houses were wooden, 10% aluminum and only a handful of gourds (mine). I'll be pushing gourds whenever I talk to people. Seneca Lake is the proof.

[Martin man RI]

Hi Question for oneidalaker!
You say that wooden houses are the main nest box for the martins
in a cold spring do wooden houses help when there is a cold spring do they help to keep martins warmer and are more martins found
dead in the trio units cause there not wooden. If that is the case then maybe
i wasted money on super gourds and modified trio because in a cold spring
they will be killed because these are not wooden. I just want whats best for
the birds any in put would help And just wondering what is the elevation
in that area of NY i blame the cold lake and the elevation in this area for
the deaths of my martins. And really dont want to waste money on a wooden
house if i dont have too! The storm was rare but i may happen years down the raod. Thanks Ray in RI

[cransy]

You say that your martins died during a storm. Was it cold weather or rain that killed them? How did your martins die? Wooded houses are better than aluminum in the north due to cold weather. Gourds are also better that aluminum houses in cold weather. Todays answer is supplimental feeding with crickets and mealworms. Just put the crickets in the wooden houses or gourds and they will eat them. I lost 42 martins in the cold weather in 2003 and now feed my martins crickets every year during cold weather.

[John Miller]

[quote="Martin man RI"]Hi Question for oneidalaker!
You say that wooden houses are the main nest box for the martins
in a cold spring do wooden houses help when there is a cold spring do they help to keep martins warmer and are more martins found
dead in the trio units cause there not wooden?

This is a question I asked last spring and still believe needs further inquiry. Also, You can glue one-eighth thick styrofoam to inside walls of aluminum houses -- email be by PM if you want my recipe. Ha. I've mentioned it several times recently.

John Miller,
St. Louis, Mo

[Martin man RI]

Hi cransy
The weather in May was record breaking cold but the nor'easter ocean
storm the last week of May killed all my birds we had the same type storm
the first week of May and the birds just had recoved from that when the
other storm hit and it just finished them off. I also lost birds in 2003
Martins in northern states really live on the edge and there really not that
hardy as i have learned. Life goes on! Ray

[oneidalaker]

Martinman, you misunderstood my post. I was only stating an observation that some 90% of the martin housing on Oneida Lake was made of wood in 1990. Most of these houses are set up on stationary pole or on tilting pole and provide more nesting for english sparrow and starlings than they do for martins. If these landlord would switch to accessable housing we could all have martins as the habitat here is excellent.

From what I have read a wood house will provide better insulation against cold. In my opinion you offer better housing with your gourds and aluminum Trios because of the ease of maintenance and the ease of accessability. Before you go the expense of changing to wooden housing you may want to follow the advise I've seen others post here in the past. As mentioned above install some insulation in your aluminum house. Install a 40 or 60 watt bulb in one of you aluminum house compartments to provide warmth on cold days (be sure to use an outdoor cord and take measures to keep the plug out of water). Modify a few of your gourds with tunnel attachments angled out of the wind. Paint the inside of your gourds and/or aluminum houses with the plastic tool dip material. If you do go to wooden housing build it so you can use a winch or pulley to raise and lower it, add insulation (especially on the weather side), seal the joints, provide large compartments that makes a 90 degree turn from the opening and provide a space in the interior for a low wattage light bulb.

I'd be interested in how you make out as I'm thinking of putting up some housing in Buzzards Bay. If I do I'll have to plan for cold weather.

I wish you luck in the future because as you know, martins add so much to our lives.

[oneidalaker]

Where are all of the Martin Houses on the Finger Lakes. I spent some time there the last two days and was extremely disappointed in what I didn't see. I saw no Martin housing along the west shore of Cayuga Lake, no Martin housing along the south east area of Seneca Lake. No martin housing along the northwest shore of Skaneateles Lake and only one wooden house on a tilt pole at the north end of Otisco Lake. I'm sure I missed some martin houses but to see nothing when one was specifically looking for it (I had the good fortunane to be a passenger for a change)
was disappointing. All of these sections of shoreline should be booming with martins. All they lack is proper housing.

Thank goodness for Cransy on the southwest shore of Seneca. I hope his SY birds have some place to disperse to next spring.

[Guest]

This is a question I asked last spring and still believe needs further inquiry. Also, You can glue one-eighth thick styrofoam to inside walls of aluminum houses -- email be by PM if you want my recipe. Ha. I've mentioned it several times recently.

Aother possibility to consider is to glue sheets of cork to the aluminum instead of styrofoam. It's waterproof, should be decent insulation, and provide great traction. Cork is a natural wood product. It's mostly used for fishing bobbers and wine corks since it's waterproof and lightweight. You can buy it in sheets of varying thickness. Would also be nice as it would make the interior of the house darker and more natural.

Selecting a good glue/contact cement rated for outdoor use would be key for gluing cork or styrofoam.

I'm planning on trying cork in a plastic house for next year.......and possibly in a few plastic gourds. I'm guessing plastic housing with cork interior would make a great lightweight, weather resistant, insulated house with dark, quiet, and secluded interior that provides good traction at a decent price.