Tree Swallows want the housing

AndyShutterbug · Tue Apr 23, 2024 1:22 pm

Hi all. Just got a new box up (T14 w/ 4 gourds). Put it up with the T14 closed and just the gourds because there are tree swallows around. Checked today and sure enough, TS are taking material into one gourd.

Options: A) Lower the box and close it all until they nest elsewhere? B) Let them finish that gourd and then slowly move it on a shephard's hook until it's some distance away (35-50'?) at which they will keep other TS away from the rig, but tough martins might push in? C) Since the nest is barely begun, should I just offer a bluebird box 35' feet away and close the whole rig? Once a TS pair is in the offered BB box, I'll have achieved the objective of option B without losing time to slowly moving them, right?

SY birds are expected in mid-Michigan in another week or so I think. So I don't have a lot of time. There don't appear to be ASY birds in the area or in the antiquated existing box nearby. This is at a nearby nature center that I'm trying to help colonize. They thought that they had had a pair of martins nesting in that old box for a few years, but now I'm starting to think that they just had TS!

Thanks!

defed · Tue Apr 23, 2024 6:27 pm

i would close it. whether you put out another box for them is up to you. everyone says 'get them in a box 35'-'50' away and you won't have problems at the martin housing.' well it doesn't work for me. the TS will still chase visiting PMs away. so i had to just not allow TS to nest any where. then i finally got a pair of PMs.

Dave Reynolds · Tue Apr 23, 2024 7:56 pm

.. defed …. Same here years ago.. Tree Swallows chased away every visiting Martins.. Took a while but once the Tree Swallows moved on,, I got my first pair…

Dave

flyin-lowe · Tue Apr 23, 2024 8:39 pm

Tree swallows can be one of the hardest hurdles to overcome at a new colony. Like others have said you have to keep your housing closed up until they are building a nest in the other offerings (30-50 feet away). "Typically" the tree swallows arrive several weeks before the ASY's so they are normally nesting before the SY's arrive. However, often times they will start a nest so people will open the martin housing and the TS will move back toward it. Then you have to close it up again and start over, putting yourself a couple weeks behind. Dan Drew has the most recommended method. I had to follow it to get started. The good news is, once you get martins established they will not be ran off by the TS.

https://www.purplemartin.org/uploads/me ... cy-377.pdf

AndyShutterbug · Wed Apr 24, 2024 7:34 am

Thanks for all the quick input. Flyin-Lowe, I did find that write-up in a sticky post after I asked my question. I know I had read something like that in the past. I guess nothing is fool-proof and the TS might be quite a problem. I just put up an alternate box and closed the housing. Fingers crossed.

Thanks!

defed · Fri Apr 26, 2024 7:55 pm

the 'protocol' does not work for me. i don't know why, but if any TS is nesting any where on my property, they defend the martin pole. i keep them out of everything.

AndyShutterbug · Fri May 03, 2024 4:31 pm

So I thought I'd circle back with an update on how the TS protocol worked. I put up a BB house 30' from the T14/gourds and closed the PM housing. Stopped back after 4-5 days and the TS had taken to the BB box. They were actively nesting. I was seeing PM visitors in the area on nearby wires and the old Heath box. So the following morning I opened the housing. Since the TS had minimal time to get established, I chose to not re-open the gourd that they had been interested in. I didn't want them switching back and I was pushing my luck time-wise.

It seems to have worked out. The TS have stayed put. They do perch on the T14 rods from time to time. This site does appear to have returning ASY birds due to the old Heath box. They don't take any guff from the TS.

Interestingly, I saw a HOSP interested in a particular area of the T14. Whenever martins stopped in between hunts (or whatever), the HOSP would disappear or hang out in the nearest tree. Once the martins were gone, it was back to the T14. When I saw it taking nesting material in, I knew I had to act (discretely, since this is at a nature center). Came back in the mid afternoon, dropped the house, blocked one of his interested cavities and put the trap in the other. Sat back and watched and he would not enter the trap cavity anymore. He moved up to the top cavity on that tower of 3. So I dropped it again. Blocked EVERYTHING except that top cavity into which I put the trap...inside a black plastic nest tray with the wood "mud dam" removed. He finally went in. So time consuming and stressful because my main ASY interested male started flying near during this time. I was very annoyed that the trap did not initially trigger. This happened for the first four times that he went in and looked around! I was quite unhappy at this point, but he finally kicked the trigger bar. I think I prefer the trap I had at my last house which had a floor plate switch and fit the T14 so nicely. oh well. The good news is that this HOSP is no longer a threat to the new housing and the TS are behaving themselves next door.

Fingers crossed. Thanks again for the experienced advice.

defed · Fri May 03, 2024 4:57 pm

once the PMs are established, then TS should not be a problem. after it seems i did not get my 2 pairs back, i closed the 5 gourds i had open because everything was trying to get in there, even chickadees were bringing in fur and moss. a wk later, i saw (well, heard) a PM, it was an ASY male, so i went out to open a few gourds again. the next day, the TS are back lurking around. if this ASY was a single from last yr, the TS should not bother him, but if he's new, they might. i almost hate TS more than starlings and sparrows.