This is my best attempt to show you the whole house
How many years would it take to fill this thing up with martins?
I wanted to stop and talk to the landlord but I was in a hurry.
I plan to stop and talk to the landlord soon.
Monster Martin House w/ 136 rooms
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Guest
Yesterday as i was birding in NE Ohio i saw the biggest martin house in the world. it has 136(by my estimate) rooms to it it is approximately 8 feet tall.
This is my best attempt to show you the whole house
How many years would it take to fill this thing up with martins?
I wanted to stop and talk to the landlord but I was in a hurry.
I plan to stop and talk to the landlord soon.
This is my best attempt to show you the whole house
How many years would it take to fill this thing up with martins?
I wanted to stop and talk to the landlord but I was in a hurry.
I plan to stop and talk to the landlord soon.
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Guest
This is a huge house and bigger than any I've personally seen. Also is a very uniqu design that I've not seen before. With that said, it is hardly the biggest martin house in the world. Mike McCormick in Texas has one much, much larger and I believe Victor Stoll does as well. I've seen pics of martin houses with a ladder where you can crawl into the middle of the house to observe.
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Guest
I know it is not actually the largest martin house in the world but it is extremely impressive. I am more curious to know how long it would take to have a colony that would fill up 136 rooms
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Mary Dawnsong
- Posts: 1685
- Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 8:17 pm
- Location: Michigan, Livingston County
Thanks for the great photo!
There are many reasons why that house would never fill, including the fact that pairs dominate multiple cavities that are closely spaced.
The state of Louisiana has a much higher population density of martins than Ohio. This 620 compartment house in Louisiana has attracted at most 300 birds, or about 150 pairs:
http://www.purplemartin.org/update/Finney.html
The above article has a great interview of the elderly, lifelong martin landlord, including this exchange...
Q:
What have all these years of sharing your front yard with martins taught you about their habits? Are they good at catching insects?
A:
They're the bug-catchingest things I've ever seen! The only kind of insect that I've actually found them with though, and they use a lot of them, that's these little mosquito-hawks [dragonflies]. A lot of times the martins will bring them mosquito-hawks in to the little ones in the box. Of course, they all got their heads stuck out there and they all grab it. Then the old bird will take off and the young they'll drop it. I've seen a time when there'd be, oh, maybe 100 mosquito-hawks around that box, ya know, where they fell out onto the ground. The parents won't pick them up after the young have dropped them, either.
There are many reasons why that house would never fill, including the fact that pairs dominate multiple cavities that are closely spaced.
The state of Louisiana has a much higher population density of martins than Ohio. This 620 compartment house in Louisiana has attracted at most 300 birds, or about 150 pairs:
http://www.purplemartin.org/update/Finney.html
The above article has a great interview of the elderly, lifelong martin landlord, including this exchange...
Q:
What have all these years of sharing your front yard with martins taught you about their habits? Are they good at catching insects?
A:
They're the bug-catchingest things I've ever seen! The only kind of insect that I've actually found them with though, and they use a lot of them, that's these little mosquito-hawks [dragonflies]. A lot of times the martins will bring them mosquito-hawks in to the little ones in the box. Of course, they all got their heads stuck out there and they all grab it. Then the old bird will take off and the young they'll drop it. I've seen a time when there'd be, oh, maybe 100 mosquito-hawks around that box, ya know, where they fell out onto the ground. The parents won't pick them up after the young have dropped them, either.
Click here to see my colony
"In Michigan every martin matters"
"In Michigan every martin matters"