I have been giving this some thought for months. I read somewhere recently, that one that's trying to start a new colony, and lives close to other established colonies that are using round holes, should hold off on converting to SREHs until that have at least 5 to 6 returning martins. If not, the returning birds may choose the more attractive round holes at the other nearby colonies.
This is my situation exactly. This year, I attracted my first pair using round holes. After they laid eggs, I converted to crescent SREHs. There are a couple of nice sized colonies very close by, that are using all round holes.
All thoughts and/or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt
Thoughts for next season
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Joe D. Bryant
Matt, I've tried using a few round holes for the last few years. Invariably the starlings start laying claim to them before the martins arrive. So then I change the round holes to crescents after killing some of the starlings; however, the remaining starlings are already hell bent on getting into the BoVillas, WhistleGourds, and gourds again. They are still hanging around anytime the martins arrive, and they run the martins off. 2006 I will have all crescents and WDC's; I've given up on round holes; to me they were much more trouble than they were worth.
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apundt-TX
- Posts: 986
- Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 7:34 pm
- Location: Pflugerville, Texas
- Martin Colony History: :
2022-1 pair
1 pair 2021
2020- Didn't get setup fast enough in Pflugerville
2019- Apartment
2018 Divorce lost Colony in Dripping Springs
19 pair 2017
17 pair 2015
12 pair 2014
8 pair 2013
5 pair 2012
2 pair 2011
I will be starting a new colony of 16 gourds at my parents house. We will be having WDCs, cresent, & oblong entries for 2006
That's a good point, rickluc.
I've been trying to talk to the nearby landlords to ask if they've had any starling problems.
It definitely makes it more difficult to get an SREH colony built up when the neighboring colonies are using round holes.
Should I consider running round holes?
I've been trying to talk to the nearby landlords to ask if they've had any starling problems.
It definitely makes it more difficult to get an SREH colony built up when the neighboring colonies are using round holes.
Should I consider running round holes?
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Steve Kroenke
- Posts: 4342
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 6:49 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Logansport
Hey Matt,
I use only round holes in my martin colonies and there are no starlings nesting or bothering my martins. I had 81 pairs of martins in my new colony in northwest Louisiana in 2005. In 2006 I will be expanding my martin colony with round holes only. There are a number of small colonies located up and down my road where I live. All these colonies have round holes and they are usually loaded with martins and no starlings are nesting that I can determine.
Every situation is different and you can?t generalize from one location to the other relative to the severity of any starling competition. Starlings are everywhere it seems but that does not necessarily equate to an overwhelming competition problem for martins and total extermination of colonies. I have observed this situation over and over and over again from north Florida to northwest Louisiana. Some areas have enormous starling problems and others do not. Many have manageable starling competition issues that can be controlled with trapping/shooting. Again, every location is different.
In your case, you indicated that there are some good size round hole colonies located near you. That should tell you something and possibly the martins are doing just fine in round holes. If starlings were destroying all the martins in your area, then I doubt there would be any round hole colonies near you. Perhaps any starling issues are minor and the landlords can easily control the problem with trapping/shooting. If round holes are working well in your area, I would use them and not continue with srehs which may not be as attractive to the martins. Or, perhaps use a combination of rounds and srehs and see what happens. If martins continue to flourish in the round holes and there is little starling activity or you can control it, then go with all round holes like the other folks do in your area. You can always convert to srehs if necessary.
Folks should use the entrance hole that best meets the needs of martins in their location and not on what is happening hundreds of miles away. My neighbor maintains a number of satellite colonies located around Shreveport, Louisiana which is about 25 miles north of us. Shreveport has a large starling population and we can?t monitor these satellite colonies as closely as we can our own. So he uses srehs and they work well. But there are still many round hole martin colonies located in the Shreveport area including a huge one in the heart of the city. This colony is around 50 years old and had about 100 martins nesting in it this year. Both starlings and sparrows nest with the martins and it is a highly integrated community with martins outnumbering the others by about 5 to 1. In some cases starlings and martins nested side by side. If starlings were destroying all the round hole colonies in Shreveport, then there would be few martins in this area. I am sure starlings are a problem, but martins are still plentiful.
I believe there is a place for both round holes and srehs in purple martin colony management and my flourishing round hole colony which is right next door to a flourishing sreh one CLEARLY proves that! Every situation is different and there are outstanding martin landlords who use round holes and ones that use srehs. Both entrances work well and meet the needs of the martins. We are all working to help the martin species. I will continue to use round holes and not arbitrarily convert these highly successful entrances to srehs when there is no objective reason to do so. If I used srehs, I would be "resisting" imaginary starlings!
Good luck.
Steve
I use only round holes in my martin colonies and there are no starlings nesting or bothering my martins. I had 81 pairs of martins in my new colony in northwest Louisiana in 2005. In 2006 I will be expanding my martin colony with round holes only. There are a number of small colonies located up and down my road where I live. All these colonies have round holes and they are usually loaded with martins and no starlings are nesting that I can determine.
Every situation is different and you can?t generalize from one location to the other relative to the severity of any starling competition. Starlings are everywhere it seems but that does not necessarily equate to an overwhelming competition problem for martins and total extermination of colonies. I have observed this situation over and over and over again from north Florida to northwest Louisiana. Some areas have enormous starling problems and others do not. Many have manageable starling competition issues that can be controlled with trapping/shooting. Again, every location is different.
In your case, you indicated that there are some good size round hole colonies located near you. That should tell you something and possibly the martins are doing just fine in round holes. If starlings were destroying all the martins in your area, then I doubt there would be any round hole colonies near you. Perhaps any starling issues are minor and the landlords can easily control the problem with trapping/shooting. If round holes are working well in your area, I would use them and not continue with srehs which may not be as attractive to the martins. Or, perhaps use a combination of rounds and srehs and see what happens. If martins continue to flourish in the round holes and there is little starling activity or you can control it, then go with all round holes like the other folks do in your area. You can always convert to srehs if necessary.
Folks should use the entrance hole that best meets the needs of martins in their location and not on what is happening hundreds of miles away. My neighbor maintains a number of satellite colonies located around Shreveport, Louisiana which is about 25 miles north of us. Shreveport has a large starling population and we can?t monitor these satellite colonies as closely as we can our own. So he uses srehs and they work well. But there are still many round hole martin colonies located in the Shreveport area including a huge one in the heart of the city. This colony is around 50 years old and had about 100 martins nesting in it this year. Both starlings and sparrows nest with the martins and it is a highly integrated community with martins outnumbering the others by about 5 to 1. In some cases starlings and martins nested side by side. If starlings were destroying all the round hole colonies in Shreveport, then there would be few martins in this area. I am sure starlings are a problem, but martins are still plentiful.
I believe there is a place for both round holes and srehs in purple martin colony management and my flourishing round hole colony which is right next door to a flourishing sreh one CLEARLY proves that! Every situation is different and there are outstanding martin landlords who use round holes and ones that use srehs. Both entrances work well and meet the needs of the martins. We are all working to help the martin species. I will continue to use round holes and not arbitrarily convert these highly successful entrances to srehs when there is no objective reason to do so. If I used srehs, I would be "resisting" imaginary starlings!
Good luck.
Steve