[birdky] might have Martins but for mites

From: "lyneart" <lyneart@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 15:08:55 -0500
I have had a Martin box for about a decade and have yet to attract any Martins. 
It's always the same old story. No matter whether I take the box down in winter 
or not,  Starlings always nest in it before any Martins come around for a look. 
Yesterday, while hoeing tobacco nearby, I noticed  a trio of Martins  
persistently checking the box in spite of its Starling occupancy. They would 
make repeated passes, but never quite come to rest on the box, even though no 
Starling was making any special effort to defend it. Thinking that maybe the 
Starlings had material stuffed into the unused compartments, I decided to lower 
the box for a look. The top pole was frozen and wouldn't telescope down, so I 
climbed up on top of a fence post where I could barely balance and peep in. Two 
young Starlings took umbrage at the box being jarred and came flitting out. 
From my higher perspective I could see that the box was infested with mites. I 
put WD-40 on the pole joint and twisted it round and round with a pipe wrench 
but it wouldn't slip down so I set up a step ladder by the box. The only 
poisons I had on hand were a can of Orthene and some Sevin dust. I mixed some 
Orthene with water, put it in an old Windex bottle and began spraying the 
mites. By now the disturbance had them crawling all over the box. There were at 
least a quarter kazillion of them, on the roof, under the roof and in every 
compartment. I had to stop repeatedly to hose off my arms before any crawled as 
far as my shirt (Some did, but this post is already too long). The Orthene 
didn't seem to be killing them so I put in a couple of spoons of Sevin as well. 
Figuring that any remaining Starlings were doomed by the mites anyway, I took 
the bottom out of the compartment holding the nest. The one remaining young 
Starling retreated to the tiny attic-like space in the top of the box. When I 
pulled out the little ornament that forms the peak of the roof there were 
another 2.3 bazillion mites under it. When I started spraying those mites, the 
last Starling came flitting out of the roof cone opening. I must have gotten 
enough spray on him to kill the mites, because he was still lurking under some 
nearby shrubs this morning, seemingly mite-free, though I didn't pick him up to 
check. After climbing up and down the step ladder to take out, wash and put 
back all the compartment panels, the WD-40 finally took effect and the top pole 
came sliding down where the box could be reached from the ground. 
  The Martin trio came again today. This time one of them  lit on the box and 
checked out some compartments while two others looked on from the powerline. A 
Starling made one menacing pass at them and they all left. 
Frank Lyne frank@xxxxxxxxxxx near Dot in Logan County
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[birdky] might have Martins but for mites

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