Below are the current Purple Martin Housing poles at my site.
Click on the photo to find more on the evolution and history of each colony at my site.
As well as MartinWatch data at my colony.
This 8 room trio house was found in the middle of a tree covered lot and was hardly visible in the summer months when I obtained it in the late 1980's. I guess it was first put up in the late 60's or early 70's but over the years the trees grew up around it. I used this house at my first home without success but after converting to a four room house It and the gourds attached, were the foundation of my purple martin site started in 1996 at my current home. Despite its age the martins still use this house with success .
After the 2018 season I officially retired this house. The neighboring Amur maples have encroached on its space and the martins have stopped using it. Instead of relocating this house I will put it in storage. It has served the martins well.
In 2019 I erected my Bat house on this pole. No takers for the 2019 season.
My bat house replaced the trio 4 cavity house
This photo from 1998 is my trio 8 room house converted to 4 rooms, and gourds which was one of three poles used to establish my colony in 1996. The house has always been in use at my site since 1996. After starlings destroyed twenty eggs on this pole around 2002 I converted the entrances to excluder SREH's.
Another view of the 4 room Trio house before adding the excluder plate entrances. The natural gourds with canopies and access ports and round entrances were keys to establishing my colony in 1996. By 2002 all my entrances, site wide, were converted to starling resistant entrances (SREH). At the time SREH's were just becoming widely used thanks to the Purple Martin Conservation Association and their educational information in the Update magazine.
Below is a view of my T-14 house from my Moon viewing swing. This house was added to my site in 1998 after getting my colony established in 1996. In 2004 I converted the house to a ten compartment house (T-10) by closing off the second compartment from the top on each side. I then dropped the back of the floor on the top compartment making the top compartment floor a sloped floor in effect enlarging the compartment making the nesting cavity a double depth cavity in the rear. These top compartments are always the first ones occupied and have been very successful which leads me to believe they are preferred by the martins.
This modification was the seed idea for the ChirpyNest house. After many years of seeing how my martins liked the deep rear of the compartment in the modified T-14 I felt confident in going forward with the ChirpyNest housing.
My T-10 has been breached by an occasional starling pair early in the season but diligence in removing their nests has been effective in dealing with them. By mid May any starlings have given up and moved on. The wear and tear on the cedar has made the crescent entrances easier for starlings to enter so I have purchased a set of Conley plates for this house in 2016. After trimming the conley plate so that the opening is almost flush with the porch, there hasn’t been a breech on this house.
In 2018 the pink trim was added to a new paint job to spruce things up for my son’s on site wedding ceremony.
In 2019 the gourds were permanently replaced with four ChirpyNest houses.
The Trio 24 room Castle house was added to my site in 1999. I converted it to a 12 room double size compartment house before installing it. The other modification was to change to excluder plate entrances. This house has always had a high percentage of occupancy. I added owl guards but in 2017 my martins lost interest. Last year, 2019, not a single pair built in it. I used to hang three gourds underneath (usually natural until last year) but the gourds have lost their popularity as well. (another owl related decline)
In May of 2019 I hung three ChirpyNest in place of the plastic gourds. As an experiment I moved the bracket up so that they would hang near vertical. The experiment was a success with two of the three being occupied. For 2020 I added a top hole to the mounting bracket so you can try the more vertical hanging method.
The deluxe 18 gourd rack was added in 2008 as an upgrade of one of my original poles. I have always used super gourds on this rack with what i would consider marginal success. Occupancy has never been more than 50 percent but I am thinking that owl activity at my site has been a factor in that. For 2016 I am adding owl guards, new super gourd porches and replacing 6 of the gourds with 2 ChirpyNest boxes.
After establishing my colony in 1996, this homemade pole was an upgrade to one of the original poles at my site. It was replaced in 2008 with the deluxe 18 gourd rack. To the right is an original rack that used to hold 8 gourds and has since been converted to an oyster shell feeder tray .
The first gourd only rack used to establish my colony is shown. This rack is in the same location as the deluxe 18 rack. It was replaced after three years of service in order to expand the site and to make the gourds more serviceable. This rack was a tilting rack and was very difficult to do nest checks.
This 2 inch deluxe 18 rack with super gourds and a few Troyer horizontal gourds Occupies the center of my colony site. It is being upgraded for 2016 with two ChirpyNest 4 compartment boxes and owl guards will be added to the 12 gourds that will fill out the rack.
This setup for 2016 is on a deluxe 12 unit gourd rack. The rack was first added to my site in 2009. I have always used super gourds on this rack and have never had much success in building a thriving colony on this pole.
For 2016 I am changing over to two 4 compartment ChirpyNest boxes and am using 6 natural gourds with tunnel entrances in place of the super gourds shown. My birds have always seemed to prefer natural gourds but over the last several years I have converted over to plastic gourds on all but one rack. This year in an attempt to make this pole an attractive site I am moving the natural gourds here and adding my ChirpyNest boxes. I am also incorporating owl protection throughout my site. I have had owl predation that started about the time I began switching to plastic gourds. I am trying to determine if the resistance to plastic gourds has unfairly been attributed to the gourds when in fact the owl disturbances may have been a factor. Up until this coming season I have provided no owl protection other than using large gourds and double size compartments in houses.
This setup is at an established colony site that has hosted martins for the past 4 years. This colony was started using only SREH crescent supergourds. Last year the colony had 8 of 11 gourds occupied. (the twelfth gourd is used for tree swallows)
I am anxious to see if the martins accept the house in place of gourds. One box has crescent SREH as shown, the other box has excluder SREH. Learn more about my ChirpyNest Hygienic martin house here.
The 'Grand Slam' is what I am calling my latest creation. My 2016 addition is a three inch deluxe 24 gourd rack. This rack replaces a home made rack assembly installed in 2001 that held 16 gourds. The new rack is in the same spot as the old one.
On this rack I have 12 Super Gourds with the new porches and have added owl guards. the housing units are 4 ChirpyNest houses that I have developed over the past 8 months. each 4 compartment house replaces 3 gourds. the house hangs on the brackets made for the gourd arms. Each house has Hygienic removable nest trays, extra deep sloped compartments designed to mimic the natural tree cavities once used by martins. The front panel is removable for doing nest checks. Owl guards are built on to the houses and do not have to be removed for nest checks. Added vent holes in the shape of martins are added at the top of each compartment. You can learn more about the ChirpyNest houses for birds by clicking here.
2016 is was the first year for these houses. For 2017 I developed and added single ChirpyNest houses and the martins have had great success in these houses. Follow the development and success of the ChirpyNest system at my blog page.
This gourd rack was added in 2001 and replaced with the three inch deluxe 24 gourd rack this year (2016). I have always used natural gourds on this rack and at times have had four large gourds with a divider making it a double gourd bringing the number of compartments on this rack as many as twenty. Over its fifteen years of service the martins have always liked this rack but in order to upgrade the site with my ChirpyNest houses and added owl protection I decided to retire this rack after the 2015 season. To the right is my deluxe 18 gourd rack that was added as an upgrade to one of my original poles in 2008.
In 2015 I added a Trendsetter 26 house to my site. After four seasons, I decided to sell the trendsetter. In its place, on the same pole. I erected a round rack and for the 2019 season will have 14 ChirpyNest singles for my purple martins.
The trendsetter is a fantastic house but my martins never occupied more than 3 or 4 cavities per season. As my ChirpyNest system is becoming more attractive at the colonies it is being used, I am committing more of my colony to the ChirpyNest.
In 2109 there were five pair to use the round rack.
This photo shows the gourd lines I put up to expand a growing colony in 2000 and contained 35 - 40 all natural gourds (depending on the season) until I began to transition to plastic super gourds around the year 2010. It seemed the more super gourds I added the less occupancy the gourds on these lines had. By 2014 I had all super gourds on the two lines. The time of transition to super gourds coincided with visits by owls at my site. I now think the activity of owls shaking the lines as they attacked the colony was more of a cause of reduced use of these gourds by the martins than the martins disliking the plastic gourds.
After 2014 I dismantled the gourd lines and replaced them with the Trendsetter 26 house. In 2019 the trendsetter was replaced with a round rack filled with 14 ChirpyNest houses.
attracting purple martins and Martin house.
The red tape seen above the entrances on these compartments are an attempt to provide better distinction between the stacked compartments of the chirpyNest 4 compartment box. Last year I noticed multiple nests being built by a single pair of martins as well as unattended eggs in a couple of the stacked compartments. I have also read of this happening to other landlords in housing with identical stacked compartments. I suspect the birds may build multiple nests on purpose to claim the territory, but with the value they put on their eggs I can't imagine they intentionally lay in more than one compartment. I will try to gather more thoughts on this in 2017.
The martins on the front panel are actually cut outs that act as ventilation holes for the box and in conjunction with the discharge opening at the bottom back of the compartment a ventilation system in formed.
Discharge opening works with the martin openings in door panel to provide ventilation in addition to allowing nest debris, parasites such as blowfly larvae and water to fall from the box during normal activities and gravitational forces.
The screen bottom removable nest tray keeps the martin nest off of the floor and allows nest parasites to fall to the floor and out of the compartment through the discharge opening.
I provide a pre made nest of pine needles and leaves and the martins have had no resistance to the screen bottom in 2016.
Explore The ChirpyNest Purple Martin housing system Here
Follow the ChirpyNest trials at my blog page.
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