A friend of mine lives on a wetland and wants to put up a PM house.
He has asked me if he can place the housing on a small platform/island in front of his house. The concern that I have is that this island is about 300 feet in front of his house. His house has too many trees to be considered and he does not have a dock.
In a situation like this when housing would be over the water, can this rule be bent/ignored?
120 foot house rule?
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Mary Dawnsong
- Posts: 1685
- Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 8:17 pm
- Location: Michigan, Livingston County
If that is his only possible location then he should definitely go for it.
Of course, martins need their housing located in a place where they feel relatively safe from hawks and owls. Proximity to human housing is believed to help them feel more secure.
However, up here in the land of giant trees, it appears to be more important to locate the housing in an area free of large trees and with open flight paths. I know of Michigan landlords with lakefront sites who were unable to attract martins until they broke the 120' rule and moved their martin house out into the water.
Good luck to your friend - and please let us know whether his site attracts martins!
My best, Mary
Of course, martins need their housing located in a place where they feel relatively safe from hawks and owls. Proximity to human housing is believed to help them feel more secure.
However, up here in the land of giant trees, it appears to be more important to locate the housing in an area free of large trees and with open flight paths. I know of Michigan landlords with lakefront sites who were unable to attract martins until they broke the 120' rule and moved their martin house out into the water.
Good luck to your friend - and please let us know whether his site attracts martins!
My best, Mary
Click here to see my colony
"In Michigan every martin matters"
"In Michigan every martin matters"
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
Mary, I am beginning to think that the open flight path may be more important, or just as important at least, as the proximity to a tree. If you have 2 open flight paths, its better than only 1...Of course, a flight path in every direction would be best.
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John Miller
- Posts: 4866
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
As Mary says, martins need to feel secure, but we should get away from this 120 foot rule. Many golf course houses are 200 or 300 feet out. If you get the house way out from buildings, you'll also be bothered less by house sparrows. My hunch is that martins do look for housing in proximity to human habitation, but that's pretty much everywhere now.
John Miller
John Miller
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Sigundo
Dude, keep in mind that all those rules are HUMAN ones, not martin ones. They are fashioned after a lot of research and observation, but the martins ultimately decide where to nest.
I'll almost bet if you could devise an autofire Image recognition system that would track and shoot Sparrows, Starlings, Hawks, Owls, snakes, raccoons, etc etc. that you could have martins living in a house 50 miles from the nearest human. (Of course, you'd have to answer for the illegal shooting, but we're talking fantasy here).
I'd say let him give it a try, couldn't hurt. (just tell him not to raise trash birds in it, if possible.) I've often thought if I won the lottery, I'd put a big ol' pond in my backyard, with a small island on it, with about 6 martin gourd/house racks on it. Maybe a footbridge to let me get onto the island, if I could design one that would not allow predators to cross and still look good, otherwise, its raft time...
I'll almost bet if you could devise an autofire Image recognition system that would track and shoot Sparrows, Starlings, Hawks, Owls, snakes, raccoons, etc etc. that you could have martins living in a house 50 miles from the nearest human. (Of course, you'd have to answer for the illegal shooting, but we're talking fantasy here).
I'd say let him give it a try, couldn't hurt. (just tell him not to raise trash birds in it, if possible.) I've often thought if I won the lottery, I'd put a big ol' pond in my backyard, with a small island on it, with about 6 martin gourd/house racks on it. Maybe a footbridge to let me get onto the island, if I could design one that would not allow predators to cross and still look good, otherwise, its raft time...