Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas

Hi Jerome, The martins always seem to push their migration north to the limit with weather; especially at already established sites. Our Iowa organization meets a few times each year at various places, but we don't have scheduled meetings. We meet at Iowa State Fair DNR building, Martin seminar in K...

Hey everyone, This is the time of year that landlords start posting activity on website forums. This forum is a great place to share info. As of March 26th Iowa has 5 repots of ASYs in southern Iowa. I know it is a little early to make it a note for the Dakota landlords, but I feel it gives great ho...

Hi Jerome,
Glad to hear it is self leveling. It the cubbie a new product for nest containment of young martins to prevent early fledge ?
I'm always looking for new improvements for my colony set up.
Dave

Is your tilt pole allowing for the cavities to remain horizontal when raising and lowering ? The two T14s I built were donated to public education satellite site colonies for our Iowa martin organization. Less weight it a huge plus in design. I use 1,000 pound winches for my T-14s. Cavity depth is a...

Yes.Heated wood shop with all the bells and whistles. I built two T14s in the past years and it was fun. I would love to make an all cedar T14, but it would get very costly. Experimenting is the only way to see what martin like. I always think of safety for the martins when designing any new concept...

5 1/2 months and they will be knocking on our doors. Months go by fast as we try to make changes, maintenance and improvements. I actually enjoy working in my wood shop on martin housing over the winter months. A good cup of coffee and music in the background taking my time on the housing.

Hey everyone, As winter approaches we all take part in the yearly ritual of cleaning out gourds; but there are other duties landlords may over look. Checking cables for fraying or rusting and its possible replacement is a huge safety issue and responsibility. Next, has any of your housing become uns...

Hi everyone,
Just curious if anyone has seen martins migrating south to Brazil and when did you spot your last migrator ?
Here in central Iowa, the last few in my colony moved on about August 30th. I was wondering if North Dakota is seeing any Canadian martin still moving through.

Congrats to Tangula Unruh for the first reported ASY on 4/13/18 in Bismarck.
I like to see the progress of the spring migration in to the Dakotas. Best of luck now that the nasty weather seems to be a thing of the past.

Great question. Most of the martins use the oyster bar once they learn, but I still flip a cricket or two to keep them honest. I did notice on the PMCA scout report that South Dakota got it's first arrival;
2018-04-07
ARMOUR, SD
Reported by Lea Ymker
This is great news for the Dakota landlords.