There's so many good ideas here that I sometimes get a little caught up in indecision on best approaches.
That brings me to consider a "cling rod" on the outside of a gourd, natural or PVC, to help martins enter a crescent SREH.
This past season, I tried two natural gourds with a crescent cut directly into it, and glued a short, 1/4-inch oak dowel, 1/4 inch below, flush against the gourd on the outside. Both gourds were quickly used. Unfortunately, it's not a good test because early on in my SREH anxiety I opened the holes up to 1 1/4.
I'm thinking of trying a few more of these next season, with a SREH somewhat closer to spec. Two of my three sites I manage, or help manage, are plagued by sparrows and at these two sites I can't be there daily. Steve Kroenke has written that a porchless hole on a gourd is less advantageous to sparrows that are competing with martins for cavities. Sparrows use the porch on porched holes as a platform from which to fight martins head on. I have observed this on a porched, SREH supergourd this year several times.
So, has anyone here had much success (martins in/starlings out) with just using an exterior clingrod on a gourd, positioned below a standard crescent SREH? (I know most folks here don't let sparrows hang around, on a cling rod or otherwise, long enough to know whether this approach gives martins the advantage in battles with sparrows.)
John Miller,
St. Louis, Mo
Cling rod on gourd with SREH?
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Guest
John, that is a good question. I believe Steve K. has a good reason to exclude porches because he says it gives owls a place to grab when they are trying to reach in and pull out martins, however, he has round holes on his gourds.
In my opinion, I think a dowel or a porch are equally beneficial as far as assisting Purple Martins get traction to go through SREHs. I mean Purple Martins have perching feet, not flat feet. They are either flying or perched. I just like the porches because it gives them more room and if the martin drops an insect it brought for the nestlings, it has a better chance of retrieving it without having to fly down to the groud to risk being predated.
Personally, I think a dowel is more comfortable for them to perch on that a flat porch though. I have seen variations that look like a U shaped perch that is like a porch without the center.
In my opinion, I think a dowel or a porch are equally beneficial as far as assisting Purple Martins get traction to go through SREHs. I mean Purple Martins have perching feet, not flat feet. They are either flying or perched. I just like the porches because it gives them more room and if the martin drops an insect it brought for the nestlings, it has a better chance of retrieving it without having to fly down to the groud to risk being predated.
Personally, I think a dowel is more comfortable for them to perch on that a flat porch though. I have seen variations that look like a U shaped perch that is like a porch without the center.