Recently I posted that what I believed to be 1 male sy arrived. The next morning 2 more sy arrived. THey stayed most of the day. Then they left and stayed gone. After 2 days I decided to play dawnsong- which was yesterday afternoon. He ( I guess it was the same bird) came back a flew around the gourd pole several times. THen he lit on the gourd hole for a few seconds, I guess looking to see if another bird was in there. He realized I had the bird magnet box laying on a post close to the house. After a few more circles, he left. I moved the box over right under the gourd pole. He show up a time or 2 after that and just flew high over the area. Then I tied the box up on the pole about 1/2 way up. Shortly 2 martins showed up and lit on the perches. THey sat there maybe a minute and another flew over the area. Then they left. I feel pretty sure they went to my neighbors site.
I checked out his sit and from what I can tell they have 2 Heath aluminum octogon shaped houses. That is what I have up. I also have 4 gourds under one of my houses. He does not have any gourds. The only thing I can think of that is better in his area is he has a pond close to his houses and more open field area because he has cattle. I have a fairly large open area, but probably not as much as he does.
THe only other think I can think of is they already have a pair that arrived in mid March. I guess maybe they like to be where other martin's are.
I guess I should just be happy that they visited yesterday, but I want them to stay.
Does anyone have advice?
SY RETURNED- LIKED DAWNSONG
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Bob Rogers
- Posts: 226
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2004 6:48 pm
- Location: Arnold, Missouri
terri99,
I started years ago under similar circumstances as you. I had a small ,(1) house colony several yards down on my right and on my left. I was green with envy, yet happy that I was able to attract 1 or 2 pair my first year. I continued to read all I could about PM's and to continually improve/expand my sight. Fast forward 8-10 years---my right neighbor has now moved, but he only had s&s before departing anyway. Neighbor on my left still has (1) alum. house with several PM pairs and many s&s. I now have no s&s and 30-35 PM pairs and my colony is still growing. Read, learn, and continue to practice good PM management --- it does work, even in an areas with lower PM density! Good luck!
I started years ago under similar circumstances as you. I had a small ,(1) house colony several yards down on my right and on my left. I was green with envy, yet happy that I was able to attract 1 or 2 pair my first year. I continued to read all I could about PM's and to continually improve/expand my sight. Fast forward 8-10 years---my right neighbor has now moved, but he only had s&s before departing anyway. Neighbor on my left still has (1) alum. house with several PM pairs and many s&s. I now have no s&s and 30-35 PM pairs and my colony is still growing. Read, learn, and continue to practice good PM management --- it does work, even in an areas with lower PM density! Good luck!
Bob R.