Had two Purple Martins show up earlier in the week. This morning there are 6 Martins. Last year we had 45 pair and they fledged 267 babies.

So they are arriving, if you had them last year just clean the old nesting material out of the houses. If you would like to have them, put a house up in the next few weeks and maybe you can attract a few pair to get started.

It's kinda like Crappie fishing, if you build it they will come.

Hmmm what kind of house should I build for them? They are like the symbol of Lewisville but honest I am not sure I have ever seen one.

I guess they are/were very common in the Lewisville/Flo Mo area.

This reminds me I need to order some of that bird sticky caulk stuff. The Barn Swallows will be showing up soon.

We put together a 12 hole house over the weekend and got it up. It was a tedious all day project putting the house together, installing pole, etc. Our neighbor historically has had a bunch of them about 300 yards away. Hopefully they find ours quickly. Fun birds to watch! Let me know if you have any tips, Spiderman!

I started off with wooden houses made from 1/2" plywood and 2x2 pieces in the corners for support. Compartments need to be 6"X9". Six compartments on each side would be enough to start with and a gable roof. It will need to be painted every couple of years. Roof can be any color, the house should be white. Holes should be 2"s.

You would need a pole that is at least 10' tall to mount the house on. Aluminum square poles are the most popular today, usually 2" or 3", but you could use wood to start.

I switched over to thick plastic Gourds with tunnels about 3 years ago. But all the Gourd rack systems ( with gourds) are about $500.00 and up. They have winches to raise and lower the gourds and you can open an access port and see the eggs and babies as they develop. Your can request a catalog from Troyer Bird Paradise at 814-587-2756 if your interested.

Ours usually have all learned to fly and will leave by July 15th. They spend 6 months in the Amazon basin (Brazil) and 6 months in the U.S. The migration from here is 4,300 miles. They return to the same nest site each year for their entire life. As houses get older and people move they will seek out alternate sites to nest in.

Spiderman, how important is it to have a predator guard on the pole? I've read mixed opinions.

How do you deal with invasives like house sparrows and starlings?

If you have a metal pole, the predator guard is probably not needed, if you have one use it. Too slick to climb. Cleaning the old nesting material out of the house in early spring will help on the non wanted birds. Martins are pretty good about taking care of themselves once they get established. Martin scouts usually show up mid to late February. Once a colony is established they will come back every year.

The bridges on LL are heavily populated with them.

Here's how you deal with those swallows. Open the tackle box, pull out the lizards, place one in the location where the nest are being built. Done, they will not build and they will not return.

Predator Guard - the Gourd rack is on a 3" aluminum square pole 15' tall and one of the gourds had a rat snake in it last year. He killed 8 Martins before I found him. Most of the birds were too large for him to swallow so he would just go to a different Gourd and kill another one.

So while not common it can happen.

The birds on of the bridges that I have seen are barn swallows. They build the mud nests.

There are several varieties of trap . The Boyer's is excellent for English House Sparrows . I'm pretty sure you know but (as a caveat to others: ) Make sure you know your birds . English House Sparrows are the only sparrow you can legally euthanize in the US. .

There are crescent entrances available that discourage "tall" starlings . Unfortunately there are "short-legged" starlings that have no problem entering . Sparrows can get in anything .

Your best bet is to clean out any intruders' nests and keep a pellet gun handy .

IF you have sparrow eggs ; do NOT destroy the nest . This can cause the male sparrow to go into a "rage" and attack all surrounding nests . Puncture the eggs with a small wire then put them back in the nest.

I think he's describing "cliff swallows" . They're all over I-30 overpasses as well as the bridge over Sandlin near Leesburg (1530?) . They're shorter and don't have the forked tails like barn swallows.