First time here.

[Guest]

Hello, I had planned on lurking in this forum this spring to learn what I need to know, but there have been several PM forum members over in the Blue Bird forum recently so I though I would stop in and introduce myself. I am an avid bird watcher bitten HARD by the bug last spring. Blue Birds are to blame. There was a Blue Bird box here when we moved in 2 years ago and the rest is history. I have 3 boxes now and am on 20 acres of mostly woods with some open spaces that runs into national forest land. There is a lake and a river within walking distance and I have a small pond. I think I have a good habitat for the PMs. and have seen them in the yard. No HOSP or Starlings out here I would like to try being a PM landlord. I will read as much as I can here before asking any questions, but I am sure I will have many. OH I see there is a spell check here! yippie!
Lisa

[Fred Kaluza~MI]

Lisa, no time to lose! You should plan on having your housing ready soon. I also place nest boxes here on the east side of the state and sometimes have trouble getting through the frozen ground with my poles. Please visit our Michigan site at

http://www.michiganmartins.com/

Hopefully you will find other active colonies near you although getting a new colony started here has proven difficult. Good luck this season...Fred Kaluza

[Guest]

Lisa; Check the Martin FAQ or Archives. There is enough in there to keep you reading for a month. Please read the stories in the forum. Some of these Authors should have their stories published they are so good. Good Luck.
Have a Great Day- Jim

[Guest]

I am having some trouble opening the sites on the FAQ page. I am also having a hard time getting on the Michigan site, I registered but it is not letting me on there saying I have used a name or password that is incorrect. I assume there is a debate somewhere on the best house to buy and where to get them. We have a birding store in town, but they are more of a decorative store and I have been trying to educate them,they held a nice workshop for kids and helped them build Blue Bird boxes but gave them NO information on placement, baffles etc. UG! Well to save me some time reading if there is ONE great house let me know and where I can get it. If I am going to do this this year I will need to get one up SOON because as the fellow Michigander said we will be frozen solid any day now. I am sure I can get up to speed on how to care for them once the house is up and before they come. There is a house not far from me but I don't think they know what they are doing as they also have about a dozen small wooden nest boxes all on square wooden poles 5' off the ground with no baffles. I believe I have a perfect open space for them as long as they don't mind Blue Birds nesting nearby. Now I am off to continue reading.
Thanks,
Lisa

[John Miller]

Lisa

One great house? There are lots of opinions. I do think most aluminum houses are unsuited to northern climates, unless you insulate them with styrofoam.

Lots of folks praise wooden T-14s, which offer better insulation. Adding a few natural gourds below any house makes it more interesting to martins.

Just putting four to six natural gourds on a simple pole can be a great and less expensive way to see if you can attract martins. There's much more could be said, but will stop there for now.

Welcome to the Forum and ask away.

John Miller

[CUL Lou~Mich]

May I call you Lisa? Hope so. You are going to need plenty of open space first off. It seems the best house around might be the Trio Castle, which is not very good in my book. Very hard to expand, which is sort of necessary to protect the babies from Owls, and Hawks. The next best would probably be one of the Trios that are rectangular. The Grandpa, Grandma, or the MSS12. I'm sure you've seen all or most of these houses if you've driven around much. The reason I mention the Castle, is that is the one that I see PMs nesting in. The Trios also have occupancy. I'm using a North Star, which is a wooden eight or twelve compartment house. MIne is eight. It was home made for me by a friend. I also have two Trio MSS 12 which have been converted to Six apartment, One S&K sixteen apartment Barn, several plastic, and several Natural gourds. I do NOT however have PMs. Been trying many years, to no avail so far. There are just NOT that many PMs around anymore. There used to be a real nice colony a few miles away, but it's now over run by European Starlings, and English House Sparrows. The owner thinks he has PMs, and won't listen to me telling him he doesn't. I've finally given up on him, since one of his houses is leaning over a pond, and the house is only about two feet off the surface, it's leaning so bad. I'm sure he isn't into birds, so not much to do about it. Anyway, Hopefully you can attract PMs, but one thing. DON'T hold your breath. PMs are very very scarce around Western Michigan. As for the house with several small wooden boxes. Possibly they are for Blue Birds, and Tree Swallows. Both of these will nest in BB style housing, and protect the area from any others of their species. If the houses are 25 to 35 feet from the PM housing, they should be Okay if the owner keeps them from actually nesting in the PM housing. This is a hobby that can get pretty expensive if one lets it. If that person is moderately self sufficient though, they can get a lot done without spending too much money. They just have to make their own. Best of Luck. CUL Lou (Lowell, Mi.)

[Guest]

Well after further reading, I am wondering if I should go through with this as just last week I saw/heard my first Great Horned Owl. I had never seen/heard an owl out there before, and I don't know if this owl was just passing through or has taken up residence. I have seen PMs on my property before so I know there are some around, but I don't know if I should try to attract them if there is a known predator out there. I will need to look into how much a properly protected house will cost, if I can't do it right, I wont do it at all, I sure don't want to set these birds up for disaster. I may take this season to learn more about them and visit some of the houses I have seen, then shoot for the season after that. The better educated I become, the better the chances for the birds. So if I become a landlord or not this season I will be here to learn.
Thanks!
Lisa

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Owls can be a problem. There are 2 things that help the problem:

1) use houses with compartments that or 10 to 12inches deep, so the owls cannot reach them. If you use gourds, the horizontal gourds are longer than regular gourds so they work well

2)SREH entrances help, because the owl cannot reach very far into the cavity with that type of hole, but the results of this idea are still a bit uncertain

A third thing that may work, but probably not very well, may be to put owl guards in front of gourds

If you have a house, you can wrap fence wire that has openings of 2inches x 4inches, and the martins can get thru those openings, but owls cannot reach that far. This works excellently.

Some do-it-yourselfers have built some elaborate racks that are very heavy that they welded together

I have a lot of owls, so I am trying to put tunneled entrances with the SREH on them, this keeps the owls from reaching the martins, and as long as the martins do not get scared and try to fly out, the owls cannot catch them.

[John Miller]

Lisa

Hope we're not overwhelming you here. Did you access the Michigan website? If you click on their map,you'll find a handful of active landlords in western Mi. Call call 'um up this summer and go visit.

Re: great horned owls. This is a very common, very cool bird (unless it's sitting on your martin house.) You just have to have housing to make it harder for it to see and to reach martins.

Cul Lou probably can tell you by PM more about the Northstar house. You might also do a google search. I think it's available by an "on-line" Canadian vendor. A similar house from the PMCA is the Trendsetter line. It's aluminum, but does have styrofroam insulated floors, and with the wooden nests trays would be fairly insulated. Its design is good for keeping out owls: martins enter holes and make a left or right turn back into the chamber.

Emil's told how to keep owls out of gourds. All this shows you just have to put some prep and thought into this wonderful hobby and we're here to help.
John Miller

[Guest]

Good morning, and Welcome Lisa. I will only say that you have sooo very much to look forward to, becoming a Martin Landlord. If you do not get any birds the 1st year, DO NOT GIVE UP it sometimes takes awhile and sometimes takes relocating your house etc. But it is SO VERY WORTH IT !! Again, welcome Lisa and Happy New Year. Ask lots of questions cause this is the place to get correct answers that is for sure!! Also their so no place out there with this many years of knowledge.
Pam Cloud
Houston, Tx.

[Guest]

Oh my, no you guys are not overwhelming me, i'm kinda like a sponge when it comes to learning about how to help a bird species. I had to take an intense crash course last year with my Blues and all worked out ok, so this is cake as far as having time to learn BEFORE the fact! I am going to begin "house hunting" this week. I tried to get on the Michigan forum again today but it still will not let me sign in, however I see it says I am the newest member Guess I will keep trying.

[Guest]

AAACCCK! I'm getting frustrated. I am trying to log into the Michigan Martin site. Under the help section it suggests to contact the admn. if you are having problems, but in order to dontact the admn. you have to LOG IN!!!!!! Can anybody help me? my e mail is [email protected]
Lisa

[CUL Lou~Mich]

Lisa. Check your Email. I just sent you a letter. CUL Lou

[Guest]

Still no lucjk with the Michigan Martin forum guess they don't want me. LOL
Lisa