Found traped martin

[loco for purple]

Warning to those who use sewer or water pipes for snake and raccoon guards.Today at around 6p.m. I found one of my asy females at the bottom of the one of thses pipes.Thank god she was still alive when I picked up the pipe she just sat .I thought she might have been to weak to fly,but after twenty seconds she flew off and gained altitude and joined the other martins over the open field behind my house.I believe she had been their a couple of days.We have had strong winds lately,and a few days ago I noticed that the snake netting I had stuffed in this pipe was missing.I finally got around to replace the missing netting when I found her.Also, I know what gourd she belongs too.I noticed the gourd right above the pipe had been missing the female for a couple of days,I would only see the male.She looked pretty thin, but there was a couple of hours of daylight left so hopefully she can get something to eat..I'm sure she was fighting another female when she fell into the pipe....Please keep those pipes covered up.I got lucky today....

[John Miller]

Let us know if that gal shows up tomorrow.

Thank you for the warning. I think we always need to try to look for places martins could get caught in housing and poles. I've frequently seen what you described -- two fighting and tumbling off the house to the ground, so can see how this might happen.

John Miller

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I also found an ASY martin in my 8in pvc pipe, I heard him fluttering inside of it, raised it up, and he flew away. I immediately went and took a treated 2x4, cut it into circular patterns, and started closing up all the holes at my place. I drilled a hole thru the pvc for a screw at each block of wood to keep the wood in place. Those pieces of wood at the top of the pvc pipe are used as a work shelf for my tools when I work on the housing! I guess you and I were both lucky to find the martins alive, but I know the same thing has happened to other people because the martins fight and fall toward the ground, and can easily fall into the pipe, especially my large 8in pipe....thanks for the post.

[Frank Hargis-IL]

I had something like this happen about three years ago. My guards are 8" galvanized stove pipe and the way they hang there was no top on them. What would normally be the "top" is fastened about 6" up from the bottom because the guard needs to slip up over my winch extenders when they are folded up. A couple of female were fighting over a compartment and fell into the guard. Luckily I saw this happen and got them out right away. I've since made removable covers for the guards so this can't happen again.

Frank

[Steve Kroenke]

At my Grandparents' old colony site which was my boyhood colony, I once trapped two female martins in a Trio sparrow trap that I had placed under a house on the ground. The martins were apparently fighting and fell from the house right into one of the trap sections! The martin were unhurt and I released them. However, I then moved my trap farther away and not directly under my housing. That stopped any further trapping of martins.

Steve

[John Atteberry]

Hello everyone,
I drilled a 2 inch square hole in the PVC plastic cap that goes over the PVC pipe to fit the Deluxe Gourd rack and a 2 inch round hole to fit my round pole! Those caps serve as a top that no snakes or birds could go thru the top or inside the PVC pipe! Thanks John!

[RC Moser]

I have the PMCA stovepipe guards over mine sort of double protected IMO. IMO this prevents things from entering from the top and the bottom.