Photo Of My Favorite Natural Funnel Gourd

[Steve Kroenke]

Photo Of My Favorite Natural Funnel Gourd

Here is a photo of my favorite natural funnel gourd where the entrance is cut on the end of the gourd neck. This gourd is about 7 years old and was originally a standard gourd with the entrance cut on the front. In 2004 while still living in Tallahassee, Florida, I transformed it into a funnel gourd and it has had martin occupants each season. The entrance is about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and the funnel (gradually widens prior to reaching the nesting chamber) is about 4 inches long and curves downward. Reminds me of a cliff swallow mud ?jug? home! The nesting chamber is about 10 inches across and the horizontal depth is over 12 inches. There is some modest vertical depth, too. This is an excellent gourd and greatly protects the martins from predators and rain inflow. The narrow downward pointing funnel area is perfect for excluding owls, hawks and crows and gives the nesting martins greater seclusion and reduced visibility from the outside. It currently has an ASY pair with 6 babies. See the male?s head in the entrance hole. The commercial Troyer horizontal has some of the same qualities as this funnel gourd though the natural curves downward more at the entrance and is a little larger inside.

I could have also cut the entrance hole in the neck to produce a 90 degree angle of entry. This design also provides greater protection and seclusion for the martin inhabitants.

Gourds or house compartments which deploy a funnel/tunnel like foyer area that gradually extends into the nesting chamber somewhat replicate the excellent cavities prepared by woodpeckers. Remember: martins nested for eons (and still do out west) in vertically deep woodpecker cavities which sacrifice horizontal girth for greater vertical depth. Such cavities are one the safest you can offer to martins to protect them from avian predators. Horizontal/funnel gourds can be considered as ?woodpecker? cavities turned on their sides, but with greater girth. Long and somewhat narrow cavities with a restricted entrance area are, in my opinion, much safer relative to predation chances than large and round gourds or large rectangular/square house compartments where the entrance hole provides direct line visibility into the nesting chamber. These horizontally/vertically deep cavities may also be more attractive to martins, particularly the females which select the nest site. The females may consider such nesting sites as more secluded and ?out of view? from the dangerous entrance hole where predators can see and reach inside. The genetic legacy of a pair of martins is their offspring, so selecting a safe nesting site is critical.

Steve

[Glen Webb Jr]

If the opportunity every arises where I can expand my colony (though I need more free time I believe) I might try this style. I don't like the Troyer horizontals hardly at all, but that natural style looks like it would be more pleasing to both landlord and martins. I like how deep it looks.

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Glen,

I am having good success with my Troyer horizontals this season which is my first time to use these commercial gourds. You indicated you didn't like the Troyer gourds. Have you had problems with them?

The martins in my colony seem to prefer the natural gourds which maximize vertical/horizontal depth. But down here in Louisiana I believe you could hang a tin can on a crossbar and before you know it a pair of martins would be in residence! There are huge numbers of martins in our area.

I hope to expand my use of more funnel, woodpecker and horizontal natural gourds with offset holes next season. Some of my natural standard gourds can be easily converted to one of those styles as they have long thick necks or are elongated in shape.

Steve

[Sparky]

Steve, looks like an excellent design. I may have to try those next year. For some reason here in the Houston area, my Martins seem to prefer the Supergourds over the Troyers. I hardly get any occupancy in the Troyers for some reason. If I do, it is a very small clutch that is produced. I don't know why this is? I've been offering the Troyers for 5 years now and the Supers for 7. Both the Supers and Troyers have crescent openings. Maybe they like the Supers because they look like a big Smiley face?

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Sparky,

That is fascinating! Just shows that martins behave differently in different parts of the country and what works at one colony may not at another.

One point about the Troyer horizontals...I noticed that on the first four I bought this season they were translucent and light penetrated. I could hold them up to the sun and "see my hand" through the outside. I had to paint the insides to keep out the light. I talked with Adam Troyer about this and he indicated that there were some problems with some of his Troyers relative to translucence. All the others I got were largely opaque and I did not have to paint the insides. I don't know if the ones you have may be translucent? Perhaps check that.

The martins in my Louisiana colony are readily colonizing the Troyer horizontals and most of the clutches in them are either 5 or 6 eggs. I will be using more Troyers next season.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the Troyer horizontal.

Steve

[Bob Rogers]

Steve,
I see why you like the Troyer horizontal so much. Me too! Good luck.

[Glen Webb Jr]

My biggest problems with the Troyer gourds is that starlings LOVE THEM! The original 9 Troyers (7 SREH, 2 round) I bought had far too many problems with them: access caps kept popping off (now I have small bolts drilled through to hold them on, which is a female dog to have to use when I want to check the contents), porches were/are too small IMO, slick surface which caused high mortality in nestlings 2 years ago because they could not get out and I didn't know it at the time, and I think the entrances are larger than they should be because martins effortlessy enter them and so do the starlings. Never once had a starling gain access to a SREH SuperGourd.

I also believe that the Troyers 'sweat' more inside than a SuperGourd. Don't know how many times I've checked nests in Troyers and found the inside damp and some nests matted down with wet material and heavy with feces. Again, I don't have that problem with the SuperGourd. I drilled small vent holes, but it did no good at all. The last thing I want to see this year are more young martins sitting on the ground soaked beyond believe and when I go to return them to the nest, I had to do a time-consuming nest change because the nest is soaked. maybe the wet nests are the result of heavy rains and the wet nests in turn cause a build up of moisture that makes the Troyers sweat. I don't know really, but too much of this type of gourd has @#$% me off.

This season I left the two round Troyers on the junk pile and used the horizontals, which again are starling magnets. I fixed the problem with the slick surface, and even though I don't like the old porch design, the martins really don't have a big problem with them, but personally, the porch should have originally been larger like the new version.

I bought 5 new Troyers, against my better judgement to finish out the gourd racks. I bought them more for a uniform look, and the fact that they are touted as being 'Improved' by some people. Well, I can say this about the new Troyers:

The new entrance design of the Troyer SREH is 100% better than the older version. The entrance sits lower on the neck than previous versions. I've had 0 problems with starlings gaining access to the new Troyers. The porches are much longer and the martins really do sit better on them. It seems far more functional than previous designs.

The overall appearance of the new Troyers gives me the impression that they are also more opaque than my older versions. They also seem 'stronger'. And obviously the inside is a significant improvement with the 'ladder' built inside, etc.

Still, with the constant increase in all of the plastic gourds available on the market right now (and I'm sorry, but it's ridiculous), I think I'm going to start using naturals in the future.

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Glen,

I appreciate your candid response about your impression/problems with the Troyer horizontal gourd design. I will keep your comments in mind as I monitor the use of these gourds by the martins in my colony.

This morning a rogue SY male martin looking for territory remove a small martin nestling from one of my Troyer horizontals and tried to drop it from the entrance hole. The baby martin's toe nail, though poorly developed at this point, held the youngster for a few seconds at the entrance. I rushed under the rack and the scoundrel male just "glared" at me as he was trying to dislodge the baby! Before I could lower the rack, the baby did drop to the grass below, but hopefully was unhurt; I placed him/her back in its nest. We are having a MAJOR problem with late SY males trying to secure territory in our colonies and disrupting the nesting activities of the established martins.

I do agree with you to an extent about the proliferation of commercial plastic gourds on the market these days! So many of them and that is not necessarily a bad thing as it gives folks more alternatives to look at.

My heart is with natural gourds and you just can't beat Mother Nature with her marvelous design! I plan to order a bunch of Penguin gourds next year and turn them into horizontals with offset holes and possibly create some vertically deep woodpecker types.

Good luck with your colony.

Steve

[Glen Webb Jr]

I do agree with you to an extent about the proliferation of commercial plastic gourds on the market these days! So many of them and that is not necessarily a bad thing as it gives folks more alternatives to look at.

Oops, my bad. I meant the prices of the gourds. Sorry, I can see where I worded that wrong. It's almost getting to the point where the houses, though inferior IMO, are becoming cheaper every year, and I think a lot of people are going to flock to those more.

I started out with natural gourds and miss them a lot. I actually never had problems with starlings/sparrows with natural gourds, but the minute I switched to plastic, BAM!!! here they come. I guess I got tired of painting/preserving them all the time and at one point I didnt' have a place to grow them. I guess I do now, so maybe I should try next season again. They certainly are a cheap, yet superior way to have martin housing available!