Purple Martin Forum

To "The Smiths:" I cannot figure out how to reply to you. Hope you see this. Thank you for answering my plea for help on a martin caught by the toe. I will begin checking out the gourds. My PMs are eating gravel/oyster shell/eggs. Saw one green leaf go in a gourd Saturday. Good luck to you and thank...

Sad day today. I went out to ride my bike back and forth on the driveway beside the PM gourds. It began raining again. Rained most of the day till mid afternoon. I tried my bike again, and on the first round noticed something black hanging from a gourd. It did not look like a bird. So I got closer a...

Thank you ToyinPA, (ma'am), Ray Gingerich, and Doug Martin - PA: Thank you all for the good advice and great info. I guess I have tried to hurry too much. I will begin picking up the babies and looking them over this year. Thanks again for taking time to help me. May it be a great year for all of us...

Mr. ToyinPenn: How do you actually get the blowfly larvae off the birds? Especially if the larvae are very small. Can you just rub them off and the rubbing kills them? Do you have to collect them and kill them later? I have not started messing with the babies because I did not want to accidentally h...

I'm glad to hear Mr. Johnson is better. I have not seen black gourds. In Alabama, wouldn't they just cook the birds when the sun shines hot? I did not know anyone!! had 800 purple martins. What a man! Keep it up, sir. barbiejoe

Thank you Badger, DKC and Dave Duit. I will open a couple more. barbiejoe

I have seen 9 - 11 PM's on my gourds. I have 4 open. Should I open another one or hope they snuggle together? It is to be 20 degrees tonight and cold through Sunday or Monday next week. Today is Friday, so a long cold spell.

I have enjoyed checking in every day or so to see how the babies are doing. I cannot see how the babies all get fed. It seems mom or dad just arrives and puts the bug into the nearest mouth. They do not feed as often as I have always thought, either. Something I read suggested each baby bird gets fe...

Thank you Toy in PA. I'm looking forward to really going through the nests when the season is over.
barbiejoe

Dear sssSmoking: it is a good thing you have the camera. I don't have an answer for you. But I had questions earlier about eggs appearing and disappearing, no explanation except others thought they were attacked by predators. In one nest I had 2 eggs May 31st, 5 E. Jun 6, could find none Jun 9, 2E 6...

Six newly fledged martins were discussing their new abilities....."Boy, I got it! First time out, no problemo!" "Well I did not do that good, but I did pretty well. I caught a large butterfly and ate it on the fly! What do you think of that?" "Well, I bet you nearly choked on the wings is what I thi...

I cannot find any mention of missing eggs during nest checks. Am I the only one? I know they must be in the leaves or nesting material, but I cannot find them while gently moving leaves, etc. I feel so stupid because I know they were there last week.
Barbiejoe

Asmithey: I bought a PMCA excluder gourd with a house sparrow trap to go in it. I was amazed at how large and nice it was, compared to the gourds I have, which I was quite happy with. The excluder gourd's lid on the side should make it much easier to do nest checks. Mine is on the back, and sometime...

I heart birds:
Hey, you may be new at this, but you sure know a lot by watching. I don't get to watch much.
My 14 month old baby is my excuse. Barbiejoe

Thank you, Taxidermy Lady. Last year I did not have time to watch the everyday happenings. barbiejoe

I have 3 separate gourds with 4-6 eggs in each one. Today I spent time just watching my 12 gourds, and the PMs belonging to those 3 gourds were carrying green leaves in. I thought that was the last thing to do before egg laying. Anyone else notice Pms adding leaves later? My other observation/questi...

Mhoover: June 6, 2017 In the last 6 days I have had two new batches of eggs laid in two nests. So they are still arriving and beginning to nest. I have 3 to go and then will have 12. One doesn't have any new stuff in it, and two have nests and green leaves. May be a second nest built by a pair nesti...

Mhoover: June 6, 2017 In the last 6 days I have had two new batches of eggs laid in two nests. So they are still arriving and beginning to nest. I have 3 to go and then will have 12. One doesn't have any new stuff in it, and two have nests and green leaves. May be a second nest built by a pair nesti...

superman4283 Hi! I have the multi-gourd rack. This is my 2nd season with it. It is on the SP2 2 inch square pole. I have 12 Big Bo Gourd V2's on it, and 9 of them are occupied. Have 6 babies and 36 eggs so far. I like my setup except----I'm wondering how long before the cable rusts out. I don't like...

Hey, BillieJR, my first martins in march just flew around and then left. I had all my gourds closed because of interested bluebirds, so I worried, but eventually martins came and stayed. Not sure just when. I have 12 gourds open now, and at various times, there are martins on all the front porches. ...