OK, I have a pair of decoys on each of my Martin racks.
Have thought about removing them once the colony was established then changed my mind after this season.
As the little ones start fledging, the hawks start showing interest and my decoys take a beating.
I'm glad the decoys are there as they take quite a few "hits" during fledging time!
They aren't sitting up so straight and pretty right now and that's a sure sign of hawk attacks but better the decoys than the fledglings!
That's a pretty good reason to have them out there if I've ever heard one.
Decoys worth their weight in gold...
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Carlton
- Posts: 1959
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
- Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
- Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
Thanks for the "heads up". Good info.
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dsonyay
- Posts: 1677
- Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 3:10 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Broussard
- Martin Colony History: 2010-2014 located in Slidell LA. Gourd rack with 16 gourds. Max of 2 pairs during this short period in Slidell. Plenty of fledglings.
2014-present.. moved to Broussard LA. Same Gourd Rack but added a 6 room house (modified from a 12 room)
2020: after a long drought of nothing, 4 pairs and 4 nests, 23 eggs total.
6 fledges.
2021: 9 pair, 47 eggs
36 hatchlings
30 fledged
2022: about 12 pairs.. many eggs, all fledged.. only had one hatchling die.. probably because of our schnauzer. :(
2023: 16 pairs. So far about 60 chicks with about a dozen eggs to go.
2024: 13 pair. About 60 eggs
2025: 14 pairs .. 69 eggs.
ditto. My decoys took a few hits early this season. I had them screwed down tightly and once in a while I came home to find them leaning over or twisted around. Had to be a hawk (or some sort of predator).
I feel they are more important to use against hawks rather than attracting PMs. Once you have an established site, I think having them around is a good think... certainly can't hurt.
I'm thinking about putting up another inexpensive pole with perches and put some dove decoys up as well. Doves are another favorite for hawks. A bigger bird and fairly easy for hawks to catch from what I've read.
I feel they are more important to use against hawks rather than attracting PMs. Once you have an established site, I think having them around is a good think... certainly can't hurt.
I'm thinking about putting up another inexpensive pole with perches and put some dove decoys up as well. Doves are another favorite for hawks. A bigger bird and fairly easy for hawks to catch from what I've read.
I have hawks flying around all the time and a week ago I heard my martins give a warning call and scatter as a hawk swoped down over my head and at the rack. I had some decoys I had never used so I mounted two on my highest perch. Immediately the male martins started dive bombing the decoys while screechiing and some would fly into to decoys. After watching the males for a day flying into the decoys and dislodging one from the rack and turning the other upside down I took them down so the males wouldn't hurt themselves. Do you think if I had put them up before the martins arrived this year they would have been used to them and not dive bombed them?
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Virgil McCoy
- Posts: 302
- Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2010 3:06 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Alexandria
- Martin Colony History: Purple Martin Landlord since 2006
I've left mine up for three years now (six decoys) and have a over 20 nests this season.
Proud to be a fourth generation Purple Martin landlord.