During a purple martin nest box inspection (1999?) at the Vashon Tramp Harbor Colony (established and maintained by Rich Siegrist), WDFW urban biologist Michelle Tirhi discovered a dead starling inside a martin box that contained martins and several nestlings. The battered starling carcass was laying within the box, just to the side of the entrance. We guessed that the martins defended their box successfully against an intrusion by the starling, and in this rare event the starling lost.

Rich Siegrist's use of a starling-resistant entrance may have helped slow the entry of the starling, allowing the martins a chance to counter the intrusion as the invader tried to squeeze in. A starling resistant entrance is usually 1-3/16 to 1-1/4 inches high by about 2-3/4 inches wide. The PMCA suggests 1-3/16, but martins in this area tend to be a bit bigger and need a tad more vertical space.

House sparrows are obviously too small to filter from the martin boxes.

I think Michelle Tirhi still has wooden purple martin boxes available for free to people who have access to a good site and are willing to maintain and monitor them. Mid April to mid June is a pretty good time for installation.
Kitsap Audubon has a web page on their martin project, with some excellent photos; Jerry Blinn has some good hummer shots as well.

http://www.avisys.net/martin.htm

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA
kdli at msn.com



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