Happy Spring Everyone!

Guest · Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:40 pm

Hope everyone made it through the winter Ok.
Thought I drop in and say hi, now that it?s the season I?ll be around for/or at least a couple of months until I have to give-up for another year.

Last fall same old story: Many ASY?s with their offspring all over my T-14 for about a week. But then every spring, lots of lookers but no takers.
It?s Ok I still have a blast watching them.

Winter was pretty uneventful except for a pair of Ruby-crowned kinglets?
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i7490id.html
They have been feeding on my suit feeder for about 2 months now. Talk about small? These guys are smaller than our house wrens!

Well another 4 weeks or so and we?ll see what happens this year?

Best of luck to all?

John Atteberry · Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:14 pm

Hello Randy,
Don't give up! Are you playing the Dawnsong in the morning starting in the morning around 6:00 A.M.? And do you have any gourds hanging from your house? Do you have any decoys up? Is your yard open and no trees around? Just some options to try to use! Trying to figure out your yard, etc.! What part of St. Peters, Mo. do you live in? I grew up in Troy, Mo. and Elsberry, Mo.. I moved to St. Louis, Mo. in 1995 then moved to Florida in 2004! Love it down here! I had 62 pairs of martins in Elsberry, Mo. and started a colony here in Florida last year of 2 ASY pairs and 1 SY pair! Then this year I have 19-22 ASY martins already!!!!! It is going crazy here at my colony! I sure hope you get some martins this year! Good luck and keep me posted! John!

Guest · Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:03 am

Hello John,

I remember your posts about starting your new colony last year. Looks like this year is going to be a blast for ya!

I guess the best way to describe my location is between Mid Rivers Mall Drive and US 79. My spot isn?t ideal, but well within the suggested limits. I have a T-14 with 4 NG?s and 4 SG?s. I have used every trick in the book! The last 2 years S&S haven?t really been a problem thanks to efforts on my part. This year looks to be worse but won?t take long to clear them out.
This year I am contemplating a ?new?? approach. Just maintain zero tolerance for S&S and nothing else! No decoys, no Dawnsong, no Daytime Chatter, nothing, just go natural for a change, just to see what happens?
With other colonies in the area attraction doesn?t really seem to be the problem, I have martins all over my house every year. The problem is getting that male to stay and start defending the house, which I have had happen more than once, but they have never been able to get a female to stay with them, not much I can do there?

Wrangler · Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:33 am

Hi Randy

Hope this will be your year, don't ive up !!

My neighbor has a colony of probably 30 pair and I have been trying to get started for the last several years with little suscess. One year I got two pair and the next I only got one pair and a spare (3 birds)

Last year I moved my T14 and gourds to the front yard where it was more open and farther away from the neighbors and I had 13 pair. The previous years I played the dawn song and did about everything the experts said to do and last year I did nothing but keep the sparrows away (go figure)

Good Luck Randy and hang in there !!

Guest · Wed Mar 08, 2006 11:26 am

Hello Wrangler,

13 pair the first year after moving your set-up to the front yard!
That?s got be a record for our latitude?

John Atteberry · Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:18 pm

Hello Randy,
I know where you live and I remember when I lived up there that there was alot of colonies near you so don't give up! And your right about letting nature take it's course! I just put up housing in Elsberry, Mo. and waited, then got 21 pairs my first year! That is without all the CD's and decoys, bigger compartments,and SREH's holes! So just let them pick your set-up! Sound's good to me!!! Keep me posted, Randy! John!

Wrangler · Thu Mar 09, 2006 9:42 am

Randy

I think it helped to have a neighbor with an established colony 5 to 6 hundred feet from where mine is.

We each live on an acre of land and I think the martins will treat this as one colony. If we work together I think we could have a very large colony. We are very close to a big lake so I think this will also help. Maybe even get more of our neighbors interested in putting up more houses and gourds.

Really looking forward to see what this year will bring with fingers crossed.........

Guest · Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:47 am

John,

21 pairs your first year! Wow, I didn?t think those kind of numbers were very common the first year.
It is easy to see it happening with other colonies in your immediate area though.

My closest active colony is due north of me and estimated to be 2 or more miles away.
I haven?t looked very hard for it and have not found it but I know it?s out there.

When the Martins get tired of playing at my place or one of the male SY?s just can?t seem to keep his prospective lady interested any longer they always fly off due north.

Hopefully if my first year ever comes it will only be a few pair, any more and it will be way too hard to get up and go to work?

John Atteberry · Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:08 pm

Hello Randy,
I know! Last year I probably called into work a few times because of these birds, am I nuts!!!! I took a new job today to start work at 3:00 in the morning to be off at 12:00 P.M., what the eck was I thinking!!! It is hard to leave a colony in the morning so I thought if I started early I wouldn't miss alot of work!!!! Righttt! HA! My wife work's nights part-time so I had to get off by 5:00 P.M. and my other job was way too hard to get off to get home to take care of my kids so she can go to work!!!! HA! Darn, I had myself believing I did this!! HA! Good luck,Randy! John!

Guest · Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:09 am

Ha! If you?re nuts, your definitely not alone! I?ve taken a vacation-day many times just to clean up the Starling population.

Unfortunately S&S?s are not dumb and can learn patterns very quickly. They get used to ?our? houses getting quiet at familiar times and know they?re safe.

Just before the SY?s show up, if at all possible, I?ll take a day off mid-week for a little ?surprise house keeping? which usually ends up being a very productive day.

Guest · Fri Mar 10, 2006 10:26 am

I've been late getting to work because I was taking out Sparows. Last spring, I lost what would have been my first year colony because a sparrow showed up just before I was going to work one morning and I didn't have anytime to shot the thing before work.

This year I'm going to be even more diligent. I think getting Martins is too easy in this area. All you need to do is keep the sparrows away and the Martins will come in swarms.