Kendra, I used to cut crescent entrances into my natural gourds. These were afull 3 inches wide across the bottom and they are 1 and 3\16 tall(1.188 to be exact) Well I noticed through binoculars while watching my martins enter these that they needed nowhere near the full 3 inches wide. The original crescent was developed by a guy in Florida to stop starlings and it works pretty good but starlings have been known to get through it especially when folks add porches outside for them to land on. This helps the starlings because it allows them to use their big ol' chicken legs to help push their way through. The original crescent is shaped just like a crescent moon kendra but as you can see mine is not. Once I started cutting down on the width and slightly raising the height from 1.188 to 1.205(closer to 1 and 7\32)I began to notice that the martins had a super easy time getting inside with or without a porch like in the video. At the same time the murdering starlings were having more trouble and believe me Kendra the starlings cannot(will not)get into this entrance and even porchless like this as you can see is easy as pie for the martins!! This entrance plate is available through S&K Manufacturing and my entrance is now incorporated into a new line of plastic gourds for martins also made by S&K. They are called the BO-11 and the BO-9 gourds and my entrance is called the clinger entrance but in these new gourds it is porched. Most folks like to see the martins hanging out on the porches is why but as you can see here the martins don't really need that porch as long as they have a place to prop their tail like on this natural gourd of mine. Now..Once I finally settled on the size the clinger entrance is today I tested it very thoroughly on all sizes of Purple Martins that nested here at my 120 plus pair colony. At the same time I tested it on all Starlings I caught in my Controller starling trap that is mounted next to a big tree about 180 feet from my martin gourd racks. See martins don't like their house\gourds near trees and that is how you keep from trapping the martins with a controller trap. Starlings on the other hand like a house near a tree and the tree branches nearly touch the side of my trap. I have never seen a martin land on it kendra but it is a starling's undoing. They simply have to check it out and once they enter the big ol' inviting 2 inch round hole it is the last hole they ever enter. This trap I have had now for 10 years has helped the native birds re-cover here. When I first moved here Starlings and House Sparrows creaked and cheeped everywhere around my place. The Bluebirds were few..the Red Headed Woodpeckers were nonexistent and the few martins I strted out with were in constant battles with both these foreign birds to survive. Well it is not that way anymore thnaks to the Spare-o-Door trap,my Controller trap,and now this cool entrance. There is a fine line between the largest male Purple Martin(they tend to be slightly larger than females)and the smallest female starling. That is the zone you must exploit in order to allow easy martin entry by all sizes of martins(male and female) yet stop even the smallest female starling and my clinger entrance does that so effectively and I can watch the martins do this and smile all day long because I know they are protected fully from their number one enemy..the European Starling. I hope that someday round holes for martins will be a thing of the past and just as the 1 and 1\2 entrance hole has saved the bluebirds from the starlings I want to see the clinger entrance do the same for the Purple Martins. It works so sweet kendra and all as you can see in the video. No starling that I have ever watched try to enter this has been able to. The fear of entrapment is created and they simply cannot get their ugly fat bellies inside because of the width at 2 and 5\16. It does not allow them the room to flatten out and squeeze in and it is so funny watching them try. They get up to their shoulders and then their chicken like big feet and legs end it for them. Martins are streamilned birds that are designed to zoom through the air after insects and they have small feet and legs designed for perching not walking. Because of this they simply land,tuck,and BINGO they are in!! I love it so much! By the way Kendra..I had 3 starlings in my trap the last two days as they are seeking nest sites now that spring is here in western Ky. Not one of them could come close to getting out of the clinger entrance I have mounted on the side of the holding cage of my trap. Not one. Now if this entrance will stop a trapped starling from exiting it is all the starling resistent entrance you will ever need for martins or bluebirds for that matter. I have some of these clinger entrances on my BB Boxes on my Bluebird trail and they work fine. Now if only we could find a way to make an entrance to keep House Sparrows out but unfortunately they are smaller than bluebirds or martins. Shame and thank you for the compliment on my entrance kendra..I am so proud of it and what it is starting to do for the Purple Martins in this country. They are worth protecting and my few years of designing,testing,and perfecting this cool entrance shape are paying off for the most beautiful swallow in the world. The All American God Among birds..the Amazing,Fast Flying,Rocket Diving Purple Martin!! Love them so much...Mike

Sounds and looks like a neat place. I have never been birding outside the United States but that looks neat. Thanks for the tip. I wonder if there are starlings there?? Probably darn it grin..suckers have spread all over the globe now it seems except like maybe Antarctica or the far north. I wish they would all go there from the United States anyway and maybe freeze solid before they realized they went too far south. My trap had another one in it this very morning and it was great to see him behind bars as I sipped my morning coffee while watching my now 20 martins all over the gourds smile...Mike

Lisa, how exciting! Purple Martins need every informed and dedicated landlord they can get to keep them from the brink of extinction. As do all our native bluebirds, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and other cavity nesters so threatened and decimated by lack of habitat and predation by EHSs and EUST (non-native European House Sparrows and European Starlings). If you could manage even a colony of only four gourds, or the large (new specs) 4 house colony, it would do wonders for the species in your area. I always try to encourage new "landlords" to go slow, study everything, and start with fewer, but much larger cavities, such as the gourds or houses with 7"x7"x12" compartments. The ASYs and SYs I referred to with the martins are just more Martins. The initials refer to their age/breeding/plumage status. Yes, PMs will allow other PMs to help feed their young. Sometimes the SY males help feed; sometimes they just harass the nestlings, hoping to encourage the female to renest with them. They little home-wreckers! The martins don't mind when the doves, gold finches, hummingbirds (!), etc. perch on the rack. They fight with the Tree Swallows; I can send you info on how to manage Tree Swallows and Bluebirds so you can have one pair of each, nesting in harmony about 50 ft. from a PM colony. That stops the fighting and everyone wins. My pair had a couple knock-down drag-outs with the wrens, but since the wrens now have a box near the large white spruce tree, everyone is happy once again. Next year the wrens will be in the back yard. Since they, too, are native birds, it takes careful management, but they can be safely and legally persuaded to move. Had my colony been full of breeding pairs, or even half-full; the wrens would have never ventured up there. Since I'm began all over in a new location this year, and had only one pair, I've had extra problems, more challenges, and even more interaction with them. It's been a great year. The fledglings will stay around and sleep in the gourds for a couple weeks, or longer. If I had a "full" colony they'd hang around, with their parents, until all the chicks were fledged and the entire colony was ready to begin the migration together. It's a wonderful pandamonium when several nests are fledging. Grackles, the messy, noisy things can be a big help to a PM colony, too. We have only a few pair here during the summer, hundreds during the short spring and fall migrations, and none in the winter. When I hear the PMs' "HAWK" scream (once you hear it you'll never mis-understand it again!) all the martins in the area swarm high and fast. Hot on their heels are the grackles and everyone attacks the hawk. He won't stand a chance. I've not seen a grackle in two months, except for the couple of times a hawk passed by; then I see dozens. You can email me through "My Page" if you want to talk about PMs. I can share what's worked for my birds. Check out the PMCA; they have all sorts of PDF links on the bottom of their main page. That's a great place to start. Linda...how big is your yard and how close are the neighbors? Is there an open area, at least 50' from very large trees? Are your neighbors nature-minded? You might have room for a small house or gourd rack, if you were so inclined. Do you have power lines? How do they run from your house. Martins like to use them as perching areas if they are close to the rack. As long as the lines don't pass right over your car, there will not be any "mess" problem. My birds perch only on the gourd rack (no power lines here). PMs feed on the wing and range up to 10 miles away. They're never on the ground or perching on furniture, plants, etc. They don't even land in the trees except when they are building their nests and need green leaves to line them. They're stickly birds of the air, they even drink their water on the wing while skimming above ponds or lakes. Here is a link that might be useful: PMCA

I think two or three of the nestlings fledged about 8:30 p.m.! I still see a couple heads peeking out of the gourd, but Ma and Pa Martin were flying circles about the size of our city block and calling extra loud and often. They were very excited. There were two or three other PMs with them, too high up for me to see markings. These other martins were flapping their wings a lot (PMs mostly soar) and seemed to be having a bit of problem navigating. I think they were the babies. I'll know more tomorrow after I sit outside with my binoculars for a while. Yes, the neighbors are very entertained by me and my birds.