Today I was so excited to see my first couple of Purple Martins.
I was outside and I heard them singing !! WOW !
One of the male was going inside each holes to check the place.
They are so cute.
This year they arrived three days later compared to 2011.
Look how cute !
He is checking the place out : "Is anybody in there?"
That's interesting - how cold it was last year and how warm this year, but practically the same date.
I have three scouts at my place. The rest of the bunch will be here in a week or so. I'm wanting to put up a second house. I guess I'd better get busy.
One question: What method do you guys use to clean out the martin houses?
I just take down the house and stick a long pliers inside the hole and clean it. It is not easy.
That's why I dream to have the super resort that my friend has. She just take down the house, open the door and clean it ...
I used to dream about "diamonds" ... now I am dreaming of a new Purple Martin House ... go figure !
Mine has doors for each individual apartment. I pulled out everything I could, but don't know if I should be scrubbing out what sticks to the floor of the unit. Or am I being to hygenic?
Congrats on the Martins! I'd love to have a Martin house, but my neighborhood is full of House Sparrows and it would be a constant and never-ending battle to keep them out.
Carla
yes I also have a Sparrow named "Fabrizio". He comes every year.
I'd love to have the house that I can take down and clean the litle rooms from the Sparrow nests ...maybe next year.
In the past I had both Sparrow sharing the house with the Martins ...
hubby finally bought a martin house yesterday. somehow, the one we had last year, a squirrel got in it and reamed out one of the holes and had babies in it. hubby could tell something was in there...brought the pole down to look...when he tilted it, a baby squirrel fell out. before that, a pair of bluebirds built in it and they fought off any martins that came. the female bluebird had a nest in every hole on one side. hubby told me "our bluebird is a _ _ _ _ _(you can fill in the blank,lol). we still aren't sure how the squirrel was getting up in there. High pole..out in the middle of a field. they are industrious though.
LOL! Maybe your bluebird should meet ours. An English sparrow couple ran them off and now I'm fighting with the English sparrows to get them to leave. I think I need a more militant variety of bluebird!
ha ha ha. poor old sparrows....they need a home too. that is what I told hubby about the bluebirds. we have bluebird houses out and they were already occupied. I love to watch all my birds. they are so funny. last year, I had a sparrow build a nest in a huge watering can that was on my back porch. she spent almost 2 weeks building that nest bless her heart...it was so deep she was trying to get it to a certain height I guess.
So, how do you keep bluebirds out without actually killing them..which we would not do. Hubby put his house up yesterday...this morning, found that a pair had already moved in.
I don't keep the bluebirds out--I don't think you meant that =). When I see an English sparrow move in I open the box and throw out their nest/eggs. I just keep doing that until they get the point and go away. I couldn't kill them either. But I have read warnings from other Dave's Gardeners who know much for than me, that the English sparrows will kill bluebird babies. So they need to move on.
the last 2 years the pair of bluebirds have fought off any martins that attempted to move in...otherwise we wouldn't care. this pair is apparantly very territorial,lol.
My bluebirds don't try to hand out in the martin house. So that's cool.
The whole gang of martins have shown up now. Maybe around thirty. I need to put up a new martin house! =D
that is wonderful. we had 2 houses at our other place...sure have missed having them the last 3 years. so relaxing to sit on the porch and listen to them chatter
I am SO envious- I lived in the south for over 40 years and loved the Martins. Now we are in WA, and they don't live here- so sad!
