Super Gourd vs, Excluder Gourds

[Ed Svetich-WI]

Just a quick question. I am adding some plastic gourds this year. I have 4 Super Gourds with round holes and I am going to crescent, excluder or modified excluder SREHs. The price is the same through the PMCA but with the excluder brand, I get porches included. With the Super Gourds , I need to purchase porches from what I read here.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the three different SREHs and particularly any experience that you may have with the excluder and the modified excluder SREH.

[Laverne]

Hi Ed.

If you go down the list of topics you will find SREH's are discussed repeatedly here on the Forum. Everybody has their favorites and their own ideas. Read all about it.

My opinion: The batwing excluder needs a porch so the PMs can push themselves through the opening. They do a kind of shimmy to squeeze their bodies through. The close confines of this excluder have been accused of damaging the birds feathers and allowing them to be caught by aerial predators because the PM cannot enter rapidly. My experience: they learn to zip right through with time - but, the damage to feathers is an honest concern of mine. Injured wings are also a serious problem with all SREH and usually mean death for the Purple Martin with the injury.

The WDC excluder looks like a great design - I have no experience with it (yet).

All my housing sports crescents at this time. I reported last season that I witnessed a Starling inside one of my SGs. He was in there with five nestling PMs and the parents were fighting it desperately. That's what drew my attention to it. I was using the clip on metal porches which have a 1/2" drop to the floor of the porch. Upon the advice of many other landlords, I applied 1/4" plywood pieces to the surface of the porches to raise the floor up to within 1/4" of the bottom of the crescent. This prevented any more problems with the starlings entering the cavities. They have longer legs than PMs and have more trouble entering and will usually move on.

Many landlords report that there is no need for a porch on a crescent gourd, or any other SREH'd gourd. The PMCA says the PMs can learn to enter the cavity without the aid of a porch. But, I always get nervous watching them try and try and try and fail - so, I run out and put the porches back on. I should just put the gourds up without porches and go away for a couple of days while they learn how to get inside.

[Ed Svetich-WI]

Thanks. I just searched for excluder and got my answer. The new Excluder gourds are too new for much feed back but they look like they are a good choice for me. I will give them a try.

[Laverne]

The new gourd looks like a good one to me, too, Ed. I plan to order a few for my colony. Let us know what you think of them when you get one in hand.

I am leaning toward the WDC excluder for my order.

[roblrich]

Injured wings are also a serious problem with all SREH and usually mean death for the Purple Martin with the injury.

How common are injuries with the SREH's? You got me thinking and regretting ordering the new Excluder Gourds with Exc II entrances.

But from what I see with my crescents, the PM's practically fly directly into their gourds with little effort and barely using their porches.

[rickluc]

Ed
Why do you need porches with your round holed supergourds? I don't need porches on mine. The Martins enter just fine. I would think with a porch it would just invite sparrows. I know on a BB or other boxes they recommend not to put a perch on the front of a box because of inviting sparrows. Just a thought.

[Laverne]

Injured wings are also a serious problem with all SREH and usually mean death for the Purple Martin with the injury.

How common are injuries with the SREH's? You got me thinking and regretting ordering the new Excluder Gourds with Exc II entrances.

But from what I see with my crescents, the PM's practically fly directly into their gourds with little effort and barely using their porches.

Hi Rob.

I made that comment because last season I had two wing injuries. One ASY Male and one fledgling. They both went to rehab - the ASY Male escaped and was seen flying off into the wild blue yonder (so I think he made it); I don't what happened with the fledgling. Both of these birds were retrieved after falling to the ground in tall grass. If I hadn't been watching and saw where they fell - I would never have known they were down. I'm sure this happens more than we know. I rescued a female who had become trapped in a crescent. She had one wing inside and one wing outside under the porch. I don't think she would have freed herself from this position without injuring a shoulder muscle. The shoulder was the site of injury for both my rehabbed birds.

I'm sure you can imagine what happens to a Purple Martin who has been injured and is unable to fly at peak levels. It wouldn't take much of an injury to handicap them to the point of not being able to catch those wiley little insects. My ASY Male was capable of flying in big swoops, but when he tried to land on the housing, he crashed into it and then went down in the grass. He would have surely perished. The fledgling suffered an injury that may have been severe enough that it would have required surgery to repair... rehabbers don't do surgery... I didn't want to hear bad news, so I never called to find out.

I don't know if these injuries were caused by the SREH or not. But, many landlords have reported PMs with wings trapped in SREH. I know that fighting PMs are going to end up in compromising positions - but, I think the WDC Excluder might allow them to escape from these trapped wing positions. Just my opinion...

[roblrich]

I knew this years back but I have since forgot. But how do we locate a wildlife rehabber in our respective areas? Is there a website to do this?

[Laverne]

Yes, there is... they have many listings for rehabbers all across the country and more...

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm

Try this one... compliments of klcretired from last season.

Thanks again, K.C.