Nighttime chirping

[Carolyn C]

I was in the backyard at 10:50 tonight and heard martins chirping in one of the houses. I never heard them late at night before. I didn't see anything unusual around the house or on the house and they were inside the house. Is this common to be chirping at night? I will check things our more in the morning.

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Yes, sometimes the males even make that gurgle sound

[Craig Dyer]

Way too much pillow talk
Owls have acute hearing...not good.

[Craig Dyer]

Way too much pillow talk
Owls have acute hearing...not good.

[Carolyn C]

Thanks for your reply. I do feel better. I guess I have not been outside that time of night to hear it. We don't have any huge trees around us and don't think we have owls near.

I took out a large sparrow nest in the other house around 7 last night. They have not been " checking into" my trap lately.

[Chuck4]

Yes, they chatter all evening off and on. It does get the attention of any local owls if they are nearby.

[James Strickland FL]

yes I hear the martins late at night talking to each other. When you have a egg laid you can go out in the early morning before the sun comes up and here the male Dawnsong way up high.

[Matt@atx]

I have been out several nights near the racks listening and they do lightly chatter or make a soothing gurgling noise here and there. It should sound content. kinda soothing. not distressful.
If it sounds distressful, something is wrong. I have seen that loud squawking right after dusk around this time of year usually means there is some fighting going on in the compartment.
I have a long staff and when this happens, I will reach up with the staff and tap the gourd so that one will leave or they will stop.
There is a big owl around our place so know I try to get them to quiet down after dark a little. Apart from fighting over the gourd, there should be no on going , maintained distressful sounding chatter in the system(s) at night.

[steve r]

If you have any way of playing music close to the nesting at night that will cover the night time chatter, I've been doing this for many years after having owls attack. If you have ever heard an owl getting martins its a sound you will never forget.

I'm lucky I live on 5 acres so I crank the country music up from dusk till dawn.

[Matt@atx]

Hi Steve,


I did not know that at all and that works? Did the attacks stop altogether?

I have looked for external gourd signs that may clue me in that an owl attack has happened the previous night like looking for scratches outside the gourd made from claws and/or damage to the gourds, porches or entrances to include blood or feathers and have seen nothing I can identify so far.
I will also check the surrounding area for feathers, body parts etc... nothing so far. I look for elongated mud smudges on the outside of the gourd or anything odd that I think an owl could make and nothing so far but this big dude is watching. My guess since its dark is a GHO.

[steve r]

Matt, it worked very well I havnt had an owl attack since I started the music. There are owls that I've seen sitting on the power poles but no attacks.

My set up is a power horn on the pole below the gourds, a wire runs to a radio speaker wires I have it set on a timer in a box so I never have to worry about turning on and off.

[tonyg]

Like Steve, I play loud music at night also...it seems to work so far.. I turn my bright deck lights on also..but I've heard of others playing loud music and not working..counting my blessings..