Tunnels, Porches and SREH - Worth Converting?

[MJM]

Hi all, I was a surprisingly successful landlord in KY (by dumb luck, chance... you name it) before I moved to IN this year. I am changing from Heath Houses to the Troyer Gourds and picked up a nice rack set when I moved from an old martiner who had to hang it up due to age. So I'll be using his old gear, which is is really good shape.

So here is the question- they are all standard round hole gourds. I know nothing about the situation in my new area- other than I 100% saw Martins flying over my new property multiple times late in the Summer- so they are "here". My last location never had issues with Starlings (or predators)- just tree swallows which was easy enough to overcome with additional housing in nearby trees. So I am not going to go SREH until I see that need.

That said, I really like porches (yes, helpful to the birds but also I enjoy watching the martins "hang out" on them) so I plan to do those. However, is that going to give predators a chance to get better access to the gourds? What about tunnels... what is the point of those?

Honestly, with zero advice- I would just put some porches on my gourds and go for it in the Spring. But at the same time what a wealth of great people on here and I would like to give my birds (and my brand new site) the best chance possible. (PS- once Google maps updates, I will post a picture of the land so I can get help on where to place my pole).

Thanks!

[flyin-lowe]

If I am understanding your description correctly you have gourds with round holes and no porches? If so they may be super gourds but as far as I know all the Troyer horizontal and vertical gourds have tunnels and porches on them already. Not sure what part of Indiana you are in now but where I live I could not make it without SREH. I am east central Indiana and we have a huge starling population. I have a 5 acre yard and it is not uncommon to see thousands of starling at a time in the yard, or on the power lines across from my house. To the point the powerlines will sag several feet when they all roos there at the same time.

Maybe a picture of the gourds will help.

[C.C.Martins]

I'll second flyin lowe,
Please send a picture of your gourds, they do sound like supergourds. Troyer sells them.

There will be problems with starlings i think, I remember that heath house. I suspect they didn't like the small 6x6 compartments. I say that for 2 reasons, my own experience with a heath when just starting out was 2 levels 6x6, starlings came by and left. Second: I helped out a landlord near here, she has a very old colony...trio houses, all round holes. No starlings. I gave her a trio mini castle, with enlarged compartments, starlings took it over, she said she has not had starling issues before that and starling pressure in that park is very high.
Plan for that.
Like to see your pictures.
Tom

[MJM]

Hi guys, thanks- I wouldn't have really thought that the Heath Houses naturally defended against starlings because of shape, but makes sense since I never had issues and yeah those are small compartments.

Lowe- I am in Newburgh right outside Evansville. I've seen starlings migrating by, but not stopping. if you ever want a day trip down "south", come on! Would love to learn from you and will buy you lunch ha.

As for the gourds, I attached a picture- they are the basic round hole ones with a round metal bar mount. I've got the circle frame that holds 6 at a time, with 2 levels (I plan to only put out 6 in the Spring instead of all 12).

Troyer sells the Connelly 2 adapter plates (page 18 of this year's catalog) and then the porches (page 13). Those together would be about $7 per gourd to retrofit. They also sell the whole tunnel section with porch and entrance (page 16-17) which would only be a few bucks more like $9 each... so those seem like a better route if the tunnels provide value. I am handy and have a lot of tools, so retrofitting these gourds will be a pain, but not a problem.

[C.C.Martins]

Yeppers, thats a supergourd! They will last forever. I like them alot, second to the natural gourds I think.
Any one of your plans is a good one, tunnels are the way to go. Why not try them both, see which ones you like best?

Those dang starlings, I'm getting ready to shoot some off our suet feeder...in fact, they may have just arrived i can hear them...so if you'll excuse me....

[flyin-lowe]

I don't have my catalogue in front of me but on Troyers website they show the tunnel/porch but it is $13.99. Either way, if it were me I would either convert them or replace them. You could try them and see how long it takes the starlings to move in, but the issue is when you get martins to move into them and then after that the starlings find them. Harder to fix that problem.

[MJM]

Thanks guys- I will go ahead and convert them. Based on the pricing, it seems like it makes more sense to pay the extra couple bucks and get the tunnels. I also won't have to saw out the holes to match the SREH that way... so less work as well. I'll respond back once I have them converted and show you the result.

[MJM]

I don't have my catalogue in front of me but on Troyers website they show the tunnel/porch but it is $13.99. Either way, if it were me I would either convert them or replace them. You could try them and see how long it takes the starlings to move in, but the issue is when you get martins to move into them and then after that the starlings find them. Harder to fix that problem.

Sorry one more question- looks like I can get these adapters in either the Connelly or the Crescent......... zero idea which one to pick?

https://www.troyergourds.com/adapter-pl ... gourd.html

[C.C.Martins]

All good.

I'd go with the connley Ii, if a starling does learn how to enter, there are "starling stoppers" you can put over the top of the entrance. There are other things you can do but one issue at a time.

[flyin-lowe]

Over the years I have only had a couple breaches on the crescent or Connelly II's, but that is only a handful over a long period of time. The Connelly's seem to be a little easier for the martins to navigate. I don't know if there is any data out there but I would bet in our part of the country there are more martins fledging from SREH housing than there are from round holes. So I don't think there is as much concern for SREH anxiety as there used to be when they were new. There are a lot of houses scattered about round openings up here but the larger colonies that are all monitored seem to always have some sort of SREH.

Also in your original post you asked about the reason for the tunnels. The main benefit is the extra depth makes it harder for racoons, owls, etc. to reach in and raid a nest. There are some pictures floating around showing how long an owls legs/reach actually is and it will surprise you the first time you see it.

[tor]

Have Conley II's on all my gourds, and have not had a breach yet. Not to say they are better than Crescents, it was just what I ended up using.