Purple Martin Forum

I live in the city limits and discharging a firearm could put me behind bars. I rely on my air rifle (not regulated yet) and a Nest Box Trap. It does well specially before the Purple Martins shows up. I plug the the entrance holes of the PM houses then raise them up. With the entrance holes plugged,...

I got started as a host to Purple Martins way back in the late 90's. I came home from work and my son greeted me and immediately told that there is a dead squirrel in the bird house. Got up on a ladder and check if the animal was dead. To my surprise it was not, it was stuck in the entrance hole whi...

Good point, You see I do not have "Climbers" problem where I live.
Hawk on the other hand is. I will rattle my brain one more time.

In order to cut weight, I opted to use two screws and a cabinet door magnet
to attach the entrance wall on to the module. Here is what it would look like
with the entrance wall open for nest access.

Pro-e 3D program.

Main body joints are glued (water proof) and brad nails. I plan to cover the roof with FlexSeal product. If it is as good
as it is advertised, it will be good.

The plan is to use cedar fence boards for material. I can not find 1/2 inch
material aside from plywood. The cedar fence boards are way much lighter
that a 1/2 inch plywood.

Wow, I thought of making a nest box for them. You just answered the question
I had regarding the Screech Owl preying on the martins.

The entrance wall is held by two screws on the bottom and a cabinet door magnet latch on top.
Unlatch it and it will swing down open. Reach in the trap and catch the sparrow
or let the catch go.

I to have read the same thing, also I have read that a bird of prey are protected
species and it is against the law to keep, do harm to them.

I never thought of them jimmying the drop gate open. I working on incorporating a small magnet glued to the entrance wall and a screw on the drop gate may do the job of holding the drop gate from being pried open. May be I need to use another cabinet door magnet like the one that is holding the entr...

Thank you. Its unlikely that it will. A compression spring on the upper part part of the Latch is pushing the bottom part of the Latch towards the Barricade (Drop Gate) that is setting on the ledge. One thing I have not seen yet is, is the weight of a sparrow enough to unseat the Barricade. I have n...

A 2 inch entrance hole is on the NBT

The previous sparrow trap idea I presented was shot down like a sparrow "No Mercy". This one is a live catch Sparrow Trap. The idea is that a Sparrow enters the trap, jumps onto the floor and unlatching the barricade. The barricade falls down blocking the entrance hole. The box can be removed (witho...

19JAN2015 The weather was spring like today that I was able to clean all 24 rooms, pre-nested with pine needles. the exterior of all 24 rooms was covered with green algae. I went to the garage to look for some cleaning agent aside from Clorox. I do not like the smell and the mess it makes on my clot...

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I trap sparrows and starlings year round. I have a Nest Box Trap, two PMCA baited repeating trap that is on top of my live sparrow decoy cage. Another baited trap (Brad Biddle) that is mounted in the bottom of the live sparrow decoy cage. The live sparrow decoy cage is at the base of my Nest Box Tra...

Hey Ray, Thanks for the reminder. I got tired of replacing the yellow (cheap Harbor Freight) rope every year. I went with a nylon rope that is more suited for outdoor use. I prefer to use a rope over a metal cable since my housing are not that heavy. I made my poles this way so it is easy to service...

09FEB2014 My Base Pole and Wench at final assembly. The top of the Base serves as the stop for the PM housing when lowered. http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr289/BumBee2/PM-2010/IMG_1487.jpg The Wench serves as a stop for the pole from rotating over. This will allow the pole to be tilted to one s...

07JUL2013 The 2013 Purple Martin roost is in full swing. I was there for a couple of hours and watched Them from the pond to the oak trees that line the driveway to the Rack Room Shoe store. This is exactly the same location for the past two years. The parking lot on the east side of these Trees are...

I was there till 9:30 pm Friday 21JUN2013. I saw them on the power line wires but they did not go to the oak trees lining the driveway in front of the Room Store. I saw birds on one tree at the entrance of this driveway. They were small to be Purple Martins. They look like they were Tree Swallows. T...