Photo Of Martin In SuperGourd With Entrance Extender

[Steve Kroenke]

Photo Of Martin In SuperGourd With Entrance Extender

For several of my SuperGourds I attached PVC pipe sections to the fronts of the holes to create an extension of the entrances. These were originally PVC couplers that are used to connect two sections of two inch diameter PVC pipe. I use both straight and angled (45 degree) PVC couplers on natural gourds to create longer extensions to my funnel gourds. I have posted many pictures of these modified natural gourds on the Forum. Martins thrive in these gourds. My first extenders on the SuperGourds were pointing downward or angled to the side, but that may have created too much lean forward for the hanging method on the Deluxe gourd rack. So I cut off the ends to create about a two inch long extension of PVC pipe. I also drilled small holes (Swiss cheese look) in the bottom of the PVC extender to give the martins something to easily grip rather than use any kind of perch or porch. It has worked fine. I attached the PVC extenders with Lexel adhesive.

These PVC extenders provide more protection to the martins inside the SuperGourds from avian predators like owls, hawks and crows. Also, the extenders minimize rain inflow through the entrance.

Next season, I am planning to attach full length PVC couplers to more of my SuperGourds to give the martins greater protection inside from avian predators and rain inflow. I hope to use some downward pointing PVC couplers, too. I will also hang the SuperGourds so that they swing side to side rather front to back to keep the gourds from leaning forward because of the extra weight at the entrance hole.

The martins have accepted these modified SuperGourds and the photo shows a female martin peering out of one and her mate sitting nearby on a cane perch pole. Also, please note the plastic caps inserted on the ends of the hanging rods that are popped into the Deluxe rack hub. These caps have so far stopped strong winds from lifting the hanging rods out, but we have not had any severe storms yet. On March 31, 2005, a severe storm with strong winds popped out about a third of my hanging rods on all my Deluxe gourd rack systems. The rods looked mangled and many of the gourds were upside down and some rods even fell off. I am testing the effectiveness of these caps for the company that originally made the Deluxe gourd rack system.

Just a short update?

Martins continue to arrive at our colonies and SY males are desperately seeking nest sites. I now have over 130 pairs of martins and will present another report soon. Hope everyone is having a great season.

Steve

[Guest]

Looks good, Steve!

[Donnie Hurdt MN]

Steve, great idea about using those caps. They must be rather tight fitting to stay on there. I am thinking that it is a rather soft strechy plastic?
I know that this would be more work but I would drill and safty wire the ends of the rods or use cotter pins. I had forgotten about your post last year about your gourds coming loose in a storm.

[Steve Kroenke]

AggieMeen,

Thanks!

Steve

Dhurdtmn,

The company came up with the idea of using these caps and they sent me hundreds of them! They do have UV inhibitors. They fit tightly, but I am not sure how long they will last. I wanted to test them for one season and see if they will hold the hanging rods in place during stormy weather.

I agree with you about drilling a hole through the ends of the rods and inserting a wire or cotter pin through to hold them securely in place. I may eventually do something like that though it will be a lot of work. Thanks for bringing up that idea.

Steve

[Guest]

Steve, Wouldn't a medium sized tiewrap (over the 2 rods and under the bracket) do the job quickly?

The extenders look great ; it will be a tight fit for excluder plates.

[Sparky]

Steve,
Great work! I've been concerned about my Supergourds since owls have been spotted in the neighborhood. What type of opening do you have on them? It looks round or did you attach the extender to a crescent opening Supergourd?

[DAKdude]

Hi Steve,

The plastic caps might work as a retro-fit for the arms. I have occasionally had arms popped out with storms or neighboring arms are bumped with a shoulder during nest checks. My thought to solve the problem for new gourd racks would be to have the company drill a small hole in the bottom of the arm and insert a cotter pin just like the one that holds the gourd in place. This would be a good permanent solution and there would be no worry about the wind working the caps off or the cap deteriorating in the UV rays of the sun. Just a thought.

James

[Guest]

Steve,
Great work! I've been concerned about my Supergourds since owls have been spotted in the neighborhood. What type of opening do you have on them? It looks round or did you attach the extender to a crescent opening Supergourd?

Sparky, Steve is a puritan when it comes to entrances - he has a preference for one type. He stated that he used 2" pvc for the tunnel.

[John Miller]

Tunnels

Steve

I really like these tunnels. I would have to use some sort of SREH on a tunnel at my sites, but the more I fall into this purple pool, the more I'm tending to believe that some sort of tunnel entrance best replicates natural conditions, providing owl protection and guards against wing entrapment. Your approach here is inexpensive and feasible.

John Miller

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Sparky,

I only use round holes in my personal colony which is starling free and use srehs in our satellite colonies which are subject to possible starling competition. If you were to use some kind of tunnel extender for a sreh, then you would need to use larger PVC diameter pipe such as 3 inches as srehs are around 3 inches in length. The entrance in my SuperGourds is about 2 inches and the PVC coupler hole is about 2 and ? inches in diameter. Contrary to the inaccurate and unsolicited comment from Canada, I use srehs in cases that warrant it and round holes where appropriate. Each works well and l like a flexible dualistic system, not a narrowly focused approach. My personal round hole colony is flourishing and is starling free. Our sreh satellite colonies are doing well, too. We like using BOTH entrances and they BOTH work for us. We are flexible and based our decisions on objective analysis and situational colony management. What is happening in Canada may not be happening 8 miles north of Logansport, Louisiana on Marshall Road.

Steve

James,

Thank you for commenting on this problem as it appears that other folks have it too. I am also concerned about the possible limited ?lifespan? of these plastic caps. I appreciate your advice and will probably go with a more permanent solution in the future. I will also advise the company about drilling holes in the bottom of the arms and using some kind of pin to hold the arms in place. I had mentioned that possibility to them about a year ago. Since other folks have the problem with the rods popping out, then perhaps the company will consider more permanent changes. Thanks again.

Steve

Hey John,

I can appreciate your need to use srehs based on what is happening in your location! We use srehs around Shreveport which has a large starling population. Tunnels, funnels or just extenders attached to the fronts of gourds/compartments greatly protect martins inside the nests and restrict visibility, too. Natural woodpecker cavities have a narrow foyer area around the entrance prior to the vertical descent to the nesting chamber. We can learn a lot from woodpeckers and martins have nested for thousands of years in such cavities and still are out west. Thanks for commenting and I hope you will try a combination of srehs and tunnels. Good luck.

Steve

[klcretired]

Steve,
I like the Idea of the Entrance Extender on the Super Gourd's , i may try that next season here at my site myself ,Thanks for the picture's and input , Hey Steve I have a Lone Star Gourd Rack but it's not called the Deluxe, ( I think mine is just Called "The Rack") , Mine looks alot different than yours does in that mine has arms that stick out 39 & 3/4 inches , that allow me to attach my HZ Troyer's to.

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Kenny,

The rack in my picture is the old PMCA Deluxe gourd system. It is a lot different from the Lone Star racks. I have 3 of the Lone Star racks just like the one in your picture. I do like the way you can suspend gourds on the Lone Star racks, including horizontal and my vertically deep woodpecker gourds. I hang my gourds in the same way you do yours on two of my Lone Star racks.

I hope you will try some kind of extender or tunnel on your gourds for next season. The greater distance the martins are from the entrance hole the better. This distance can be either vertically or horizontally deep. Both achieve the same objective of providing seclusion and more protection to the martins inside the gourd.

Hope you are having a great martin season.

Steve

[John Atteberry]

Hello Steve,
I've been planning on doing this to my Supergourds next year!! All 12 of them! I been thinking about taking my 6 Natureline gourds apart and using the two backs only to put access caps in and tunnels in it! With the Natureline gourds put together like they are, you can't put a tunnel in it! That means I will only have three made with the tunnels and access caps and throw the other three away from building these gourds with tunnels! Oh well! Better for the martins to be safe then have them facing the Grim Reaper like you mention in your posts!!!! HA! See, I do read and remember your posts! Thanks for the update and telling me to get my plans in order! John!

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey John,

If you use more Troyer horizontals, then you already have a good tunnel approach. I plan to use more of them next season. They are proving to be extremely popular in my colony. However, I still like my Super Gourds, particularly the ones I painted tan inside to naturalize them. So I will be adding the PVC extenders to them.

Your martin colony continues to do well in spite of the loss of the female. The male still has time to attract a female.

Good luck.

Steve