I plug my entrances with,,,,,,,,,,,

[Guest]

,,,,,,,,,plastic grocery bags.I do this in the fall after the PM's leave.It is really easy to do ,you can wad them up and stuff them in the tunnels from the inside or poke them thru the entrance hole from the outside.I leave them in all winter as I don't bring my gourds in for storage.These bags keep the trash birds out in the off season and allows me to selectively open gourds when the PM's return to give me the advantage for shooting S&S and also alows me to keep tabs on activity early on in the upcoming season.

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that my 2011 first ASYM brought home a lady friend.He then decided he wanted to change gourds so he picked on one on the opposite side of the rack and persisted in trying to enter that gourd even tho it had a plastic bag blocking his way,after several tries he eventually pushed the plastic bag down the tunnel and into the gourd.I lowered the rack and removed the bag and added a jar lid of crickets.He came in later and went into his original gourd with the female,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,figure that one out.

dick

[~Ray~Gingerich]

I cut 2x4 blocks of eggcrete foam to plug the holes, sometimes a starling will pull them out if I get them a little under sized.

[jldoll]

One of the best tips I got is from the archives.
Go to frequently ask questions, then to starling resistant entrance holes, SREH's. then door plugs for crescent's.
Get yourself a swimming pool noodle, you can get them at walmart.
Cut pieces about 1'' long then cut them in half. They make perfect plugs for crescent opening.
From this foam material, I make plugs for all type's entrances.
It's cheep and easy to cut.
Jerry

[Louise Chambers]

Jerry, we use noodle plugs too - and are also using foam pipe wrap. That comes in different sizes, and we use the larger for round entrances, smaller for srehs. We also cut longer pieces and attach long strings for using on nest checks with older nestlings.

[Billy Stephens]

I use 6 ounce plastic dixie cups

[flyin-lowe]

I usually use the blue masking tape for painting. It comes off easy. Two strips to cover the hole.

[Robbo]

Flyin-Lowe,
I also use the tape. The Plastic bags are very bad and harmful for the enviroment, pollution! They are a detriment for wildlife and world in whole! I use them to dispose of Sparrows myself .
Rob.

[Guest]

Robbo,what do you do with the sparrows and the plastic bag once they are in a plastic bag?What is your method of disposal?

Once I finish using them to plug my housing I recycle them to clean up the enviroment.Do you think you are the only one who thinks about this or these things? Get a life and quit preaching this isnt the place for it BTW.

dick

[eyeamtheman]

YEAH !! Ban all plastic bags!!!!! Not that I'm supporting my paper mill or anything.....

[Guest]

I would like to apologize to Robbo for my Smart A** remark above.I get a little cranky now and then,,,,,,,,must be old age,coming up on 75 and feeling it.

dick

[Robbo]

No worries Dick,
Meant as a joke. What does BTW mean?
Rob.

[apundt-TX]

By The Way

[Robbo]

Thanx.

[Virgil McCoy]

Swimming pool noodle ? Wow ! Thanks guys, excellent idea that will be implemented asap !

[Phil Richer]

I use 4 ounce dixie cups to plug my super gourds. I push them thru from the inside and then use a small nail pushed thru the upper part of the paper cup on the outside to keep it from being pushed in by the elements or some unwanted bird. Cheap, effective and easy install and remove

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

I also use foam pipe insulation. I cut it into 3" lengths and it fits tight into my crescent openings. Here is a picture with them in place.



Like Louise mentioned, I too use the foam pipe insulation attached to a rope to plug entrances while conducting nest checks when I have nestlings at fledging age. I place the foam insulation pieces at 3' intervals on the rope. Here is a picture of the rope with foam plugs. When I have completed the nest checks, I wait about five minutes and gently pull on the rope. The foam peices will come out one at a time.



Tim

[Linda Reynolds]

Tim, I love this solution. Plugging the holes of *about to fledge* when doing nest inspections has always been an issue at our place. Your photo and written documentation is a winner in my opinion.

We will be implementing your system this year. Thanks so much and KUDOS to you. This information was VERY helpful.

We use pool noodles to plug holes before the entire colony returns and is in place. We try to isolate *easily viewable entries/gourds before the martins begin to claim cavities for the purpose of mating and nesting. We do this so we can easily provide supplemental heating when and if necessary.

[jldoll]

The foam insulation looks like it dose a good job.
this is an example of the noodle plug
Jerry

[Linda Reynolds]

Jerry, we also use those noodle plugs, and they fit and block most SREH entries. The noodles are easy to find in any store that carries pool supplies or equipment. Most often we find ours at Walmart.

We also use these noodle plugs on the holding cage of our NBT trap. The holding cage we designed has a panel that contains two access holes for bluebirds and liked sized species. At certain times of the year, prior to bluebirds looking for cavities, it is in our best interest to plug the exit holes and we also use the pool noodes for that job.

[John Barrow]

I very seldon use the pool noodles anymore for all but long term, over winter blockage. Instead, I use the foam pipe insulation, as shown in Tim's photos. I do not open mine and insert it horizontally. Insead I cut a piece about 6-8 inches long and insert it lengthwise into the center of the opening. When doing nestchecks I use a brown twine rope about 1/4 inch in diameter and about 20 feet in length, which I cirle through and around the foam insert and knot it together. I have plugged as many as 8-10 gourds on a system with older nestlings at one time. When through with nestchecks, I raise the system, as Tim does, and wait a few minutes before pulling the plugs out with the twine. I have fouud the foam inserts easier to remove then pool noodles, and they will not damage the SREH entrance.

When we blocked entrances for our geolocator project to trap over 50 ASY martins, we used the foam insulation plugs exclusively, as we did to trap some returning birds to remove geolocators. We used the foam with about a 3/4 inch center to block the SREH tunnels, and a 2" piece to block any round holes. The 2 inch piece will not work on round hole supergourds, and the like, that have a diameter of 2 and 1/8 inch.