Karl's site
This is a Fledgling replacement tool that Karl uses.
Removable concrete ground socket
Karl's setup in Louisiana
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Guest
I just thought I would show you some pictures from Karl of Louisiana.
Karl's site
This is a Fledgling replacement tool that Karl uses.
Removable concrete ground socket
Karl's site
This is a Fledgling replacement tool that Karl uses.
Removable concrete ground socket
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Donnie Hurdt MN
- Posts: 1723
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2004 11:14 pm
- Location: North Prairie, MN
I see he has his housing well protected from aireal predators but if I had a gourd rack that big I would be neverous every time the wind blew. He has a nice setup though.
PMCA member and Martin fanatic....
2011 A pair of subbies fledged three young but none returned in 2012
2015 One Pair of subbies came and stayed a few nits but got chased away by Bluebirds and Tree swallows.
2017 0ne pair of subbies nested and fledged 4 young
2018 Tree Swallows AGAIN chased away any martins that wanted to nest
2019 Same old story................
2011 A pair of subbies fledged three young but none returned in 2012
2015 One Pair of subbies came and stayed a few nits but got chased away by Bluebirds and Tree swallows.
2017 0ne pair of subbies nested and fledged 4 young
2018 Tree Swallows AGAIN chased away any martins that wanted to nest
2019 Same old story................
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Guest
dhurdtMN, I was thinking the same thing in reference to the number of gourds on that one rack. It definetly looks impressive, but if it ever fell over, you would be hurting. I am sure based on his last photo, that he has it mounted solid in the ground though, I doubt it would ever fall unless you had a serious wind storm of some kind.
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Guest
I don't recall him mentioning the capacity of the gourd rack. It is owned by Karl Pesson of the Purple Martin Society. He may be a member here, not really sure. I would ask him, but it is 6:00 AM Central time so I doubt he is online.
I will send him an e-mail and find out though.
Samuel Wilson
Tallahassee, Florida
[email protected]
I will send him an e-mail and find out though.
Samuel Wilson
Tallahassee, Florida
[email protected]
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Guest
I was wrong, Karl is online, this guy gets up early. I just wanted to reassure everyone that his gourd rack with all those gourds is definetly firmly placed in the ground. He said the pipe 4" heavy wall steel sunk 6' in the ground with 2,100 pounds of concrete to keep it there. The inside of the pipe contains a 2" solid steel rod and concrete was poured in to fill the void. The rack was designed to withstand 120 mile an hour winds with the gourds attached and raised. The pole survived hurricane andrew with winds recorded at 175 miles per hour at the local airport.
Sounds like to me that gourd rack isn't going anywhere. I still don't know the exact number of gourds on that rack, but I would guess 70 gourds or so.
Sounds like to me that gourd rack isn't going anywhere. I still don't know the exact number of gourds on that rack, but I would guess 70 gourds or so.
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Guest
Harold and Peg Smith,
Ok, I have an answer for you on the number of gourds. Are you ready for this? This gourd rack is designed to hold 106 gourds. There are 100 gourds hanging in that picture. Since the picture was taken, Karl has added owl guards. The occupancy rate was rising every year until he cut back on his colony size. The last figures that he has shows a rate of 70% and increasing by about 10% each year.
In summary, 100 gourds with a 70% occupancy rate. That is pretty serious. That is 70 pair on one gourd rack. If those 70 pair average 4 nestlings, then that is 420 Purple Martins on one gourd rack!!!
(140 adult birds, with 280 fledglings)
Ok, I have an answer for you on the number of gourds. Are you ready for this? This gourd rack is designed to hold 106 gourds. There are 100 gourds hanging in that picture. Since the picture was taken, Karl has added owl guards. The occupancy rate was rising every year until he cut back on his colony size. The last figures that he has shows a rate of 70% and increasing by about 10% each year.
In summary, 100 gourds with a 70% occupancy rate. That is pretty serious. That is 70 pair on one gourd rack. If those 70 pair average 4 nestlings, then that is 420 Purple Martins on one gourd rack!!!
(140 adult birds, with 280 fledglings)
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Robert McCallum
- Posts: 215
- Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:34 pm
- Location: Oklahoma/Tulsa
Wonder how long it takes to do a complete nest check? 
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Guest
I guess if a person started a nest check on Monday they should finish by Wednesday. That includes several lemonade breaks.
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Guest
Is that a gourd rack, or an Air Force surplus radar array?? 
Seriously, though. That's one fine setup!
Seriously, though. That's one fine setup!
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Guest
Our Cajun friend Karl Pesson, in year's past, was an often-poster to this forum back when it was run by Kent Justis of Little Rock. Karl is one of "our" most innovative purple martin gadgetry man. Many ideas in use today either sprung from or were impacted by the bright mind of this off-shore oil field platform man, who has done many different jobs out there on the water in his career.
Kent Justis used to run this forum before it was taken over by the PMCA a few years ago and has visited with both Karl and me in the past, coming to both our sites. Karl taught both Kent and me a thing or two in the process.
BTW, Karl can raise and lower that big rack without putting his body under it...very important to be able to do that with such a large, heavy rack.
Kent Justis used to run this forum before it was taken over by the PMCA a few years ago and has visited with both Karl and me in the past, coming to both our sites. Karl taught both Kent and me a thing or two in the process.
BTW, Karl can raise and lower that big rack without putting his body under it...very important to be able to do that with such a large, heavy rack.