Thanks Konrad. I hope you are able to attract them as well. I have no delusions that I will be successful, but there's always hoping. I certainly won't attract them if I don't try. I am ready with SREH entrances, a pole with a winch for raising and lowering, a climbing predator guard, owl guards, etc. I have purchased the dawn song and some decoys. I have a nice open space with a conservation area across the street that has a nice pond. The air around here just fills with dragonflies all summer, so I figure why not try to attract birds that love to eat dragonflies.

I was afraid that might be the case, they all look around the same size (martins) and info I found today said that the martins usually start to arrive here in February and look for nesting spots. In addition to All the other potential dangers/problems with the house/location where these martins are possibly planning to nest and raise babies, same neighbors also have a HAMM RADIO tower in their back yard and every year around late spring/ summer a great horned owl perches up there on and off and and hoots, I've heard him and seen him up there several nights in a row before. Is there anything I can do at this point, like put up a safe Martin house, or will they stay there now regardless? I'm hoping that if I talk to neighbors and explain the situation, they will do something about it. I feel sick at the thought of the martins going through whole process and end up losing babies or being harmed themselves. If I thought there was a possibility that they would relocate this late in the game, I'd gladly put up a safe place for them to nest and make sure it stays that wAy, although I'd be learning as I go, ughh, whole situation makes me nervous. I'm going to post the pics of the house and the birds tonight, I'm pretty sure the house is not the ideal layout either, it has little porches with metal railings on both floors and another railing across top and from what I've read so far, that makes it easy for owls to get to them. Thanks

What a treat! Thanks for sharing. I read such a discouraging article in the Chicago Tribune last week. It was about a bird tagging location near the Illinois/Wisconsin border that has been functioning for forty years. At first I thought the article said the number of birds had declined by ten to twenty percent, then...no, the number has declined TO ten to twenty percent of the migrating birds. They blame pollution and the declining habitat along migration routes. One of the tiny birds photographed had been recorded on migration from Northern Canada to South America. Our bird population has never come back more than a few percent from the die-off during avian flu a few years ago. I almost never see a crow or blue jay -- who thought I'd miss *them*?

Kathleen CA - I'm checking with some of the PMCA members to get all of the facts correct, but there are small numbers of Purple Martins in California. They nest differently though; where the martins in the eastern half of the country are human-imprinted and colony nesters, the ones that have moved to the west coast tend to nest in smaller, or solitary, groups and not near people. I know there were several larger colonies forming around Sacramento. The birds have discovered the drain pipes built in to some of the larger highway overpasses were excellent places to nest. They also nest in pilings and piers along the coast. I'll get back with you when I get more info. I don't know how far south they go. Socks/Kathleen CA - Yes; Wes has been a great help with the my Purple Martin hobby/obsession. When we moved from the base to the new/old house in Larimore in 2007, one of the very first things he did was to dig the 36" deep, 12" wide hole and set the ground stake in cement so it could cure and hold the pole before winter. The pole slips down 30" into the stake. This is the same set up I had on the base. We had a nearly-impossible-to-budge rope-and-pulley system until now. I don't know why it never worked correctly, but the manufacturer replaced the entire hub system with a new and improved one! Since it can hold two layers of eight gourds each, we bought a boat winch to "power" it. The system was easy to install on the old pole and it works beautifully. It would have taken me weeks to put together and install the winch, pulley and hub if I had to do it on my own. It would have involved blood, bruises, pain, and probably broken fingers. Wes had it all together in an hour or so. "I think I'll keep him!" There have been four Purple Martin "scout" sightings in North Dakota since April 11. Two in Mandan, and one each in Devils Lake and Coleharbor. I have three "martineering" friends in Grand Forks and Bismarck. They have not seen birds yet. Purple Martins are native American birds that migrate to and from Brazil each fall. They return in the spring to nest from Florida to north of Winnipeg. At one time they were in danger of extinction because of lack of properly monitored housing (the vast majority of the birds only nest in man-made housing) and predation by non-native European starlings and English house sparrows. Here is a link that might be useful: Purple Martin Conservation Association