Pm's in central tx

[Guest]

I can not believe what I think I saw approx 8 am this morning. I saw three what I believe to be pm's. I have never seen that type of bird here before and wasn't even thinking about it and then....I saw one with a greyish breast and two solid purplish/black, approx 6-7" long circling my pm house.

I have 3 decoys on the house and the one kept getting closer to the house, checking it out. All three then joined up and flew off

Could this have been martins?

[Guest]

Birdlady, you could have martins checking out your house. They have been reported in Missouri already. Henry

[CraigMo.]

Birdlady, get your binocs out and look at pictures on this forum of the martins, Then 1 hr or before dark get a cup of jo or beer and wait and see if they come back to sleep. If you see yellow beaks then thats bad,probably a starling, but by your description I bet they are martins. Check out on this forum what they sound like also. They might come back during the day to take a break now and then. You can probably get 20 to 30 feet close and sit in a chair if its warm enough. Once you get martins you can get as close as you want cause they will get to know ya. I wouldn't take any chance at first IMO.

[Guest]

so they might come back before dark? I am so excited !! and will go outside (it's almost 80* out lol) and wait for them before dark

I just lowered the house and opened another entryway. I now have 3 open out of six

They did NOT have yellow beaks and were smaller than starlings I think.
**out come the binoculars :-))

[CraigMo.]

Yep if they decide that they like your house they will sleep there. Once you get them you can mow under them and even stand under them and they won't fly away after awhile. They will get use to you. My pm's can tell when I am gonna give them eggshells and they get excited. I am not an expert, but I would open a few doors on each side they might like one side better than the other, maybe someone else will jump in on the door openings. I said 1 hr before dark, but thats not always the case, sometimes they come right at dark and you are lucky to see them, but sometimes you do.

[Sharon - Central TX]

Hi Birdlady,
There are definitely PM's in Central TX. Although I have not seen any yet at my site, there are many established landlords within a few miles of me whose birds are coming in.
Let us know if yours came back to spend the night. Is this your first year? It is very exciting but also sometimes gets rather nerve wracking too :-). We get so caught up as to whether or not they will stay, our regular life sometimes gets put on hold (LOL).
Sharon (also in Central TX)

[Guest]

I don't know if they did or not. I sat outside and then had other things come up so I could not watch the entire time. I will let you know if I see anything today

[Sparky]

The southern warm winds are bringing more in right now. I had another boost at my colony this morning.