Purple Martin Forum

Mal,

Have you tried Supplemental feeding if your birds have flown into cold wet weather and insects are forced to the ground?

Thomas,
We are watching closely and we hope that Joe is done with the serious injuries . Hopefully they will do a better job of protecting him in the pocket! He has really earned his contract money because he has brought life to the Bengal's , sold out tickets, lots of new fans!

Geaux Joe !

Mike

For the 3rd "March spring" in a row, many Ohio colonies are facing arrivals into severely cold temperatures that has made finding flying insects difficult for our birds. Supplemental feeding of Mighty Mealey meal worms saved almost all of my early arrivals last year. I have four ASY birds ...

Going to look for this air rifle. How much does this gun cost?
Mike Wren

When we see as many scout reports from Kentucky and near Tenn. it is time to worry a bit north of these states this early in March. Northern midwest Martins that arrive in March are risking their lives if they are returning to their colonies in Mid-to late March. Our early spring weather has been ve...

killerv,

"yet" is the magic word! Once sharp shinns or Coopers locate a martin colony, they are going to attack at some point. They will have
misses, but they will eventually attack and kill in time.

Mike

We hope so David. He has had some bad luck with the injuries. He is great quarterback and great young man. Athens Ohio Bulldogs are very proud of him. !

Mike "Bird" Wren

Dave, You and your Iowa group have shared lots of very important info that is very important to "northern colony landlords", especially when you have shared the importance of supplemental feeding. Flipping meal worms and crickets to martin arrivals is the most fun you can have with these a...

I have experimented with not cleaning some of my nest boxes until end of winter or early spring. I was concerned about some insect life that might be harmful to returning martins. I found some small mite like insects in a couple of nest boxes, and also found some species of flies that survived the w...

I have got to hope that we do not get our Ohio birds back this early. We have had terrible weather to deal with the past seasons that caused Martin Landlords to lose birds to hypothermia and starvation. March is a very dangerous month for our returning birds! Hopefully they will "slow down thei...

Great to be able to see how far ahead you La.Martin Land Lords are compared to us Ohio Bengal fans! We are hoping for Joe's wrist to heal completely, and we are also hoping that our birds take their time getting to the Ohio River and crossing to make it to Athens ! We always get hit with some very c...

Good ideas to help protect our martins from hawks and owls. I have tried all except for the fencing in my 3 Troyer T-14's and my 3 Troyer Gourd Racks for a total of 96 nest box opportunities for our birds. I might try to "fence in" at least one or two of my Towers this season. I have Sharp...

Sharon, Thanks for the encouragement! I had 4 arrivals yesterday evening , and there were 3 more birds flying with the original 4 this morning! I think that the earliest birds that arrived are from my colony because the majority of them caught the first Mighty Meal worms that I flipped in their dire...

Martintown, we need all the luck we can get. Even after our birds begin to filter into southeastern ohio by late March or early April, we still usually get some cold wet weather that can cause our birds problems. Hopefully we will warm up in the next week and the 31 Ohio Scout Arrivals will grow pre...

Birdman in Buckhead, we share the same nickname, and we feel the same way about the Accipiters that are after our Martins! I have always been interested in all the Accipiters and the larger Raptors, but my feelings for the Accipiters changed somewhat years ago when I began to witness attacks on my M...

As of this morning, (March 25) there have been 26 arrival reports in Ohio so far. There have not been any reports around Athens where I am located. There have been some reports within 35 miles, so I am watching closely. I have not seen any tree swallows down in the field below my colony. They usuall...

We have some colonies reporting arrivals, but so far I have not seen any of my birds so far!
Good luck! Get the meal worms ready to go!

Laura, Birdie I have had my best success "Flipping" regular live mealworms. Dried meal worms do not flip and fly very well at all. (they also do not provide much nourishment } Meal worms flip best when they are in the 1 inch length, maybe a bit larger. The larger ones are not much bigger t...

Bevkro, Fluker is a best for crickets, and Grubco is also pretty good. I have been supplemental feeding when severe cold and wet weather catches the martins in bad trouble, facing death by starvation and/or exposure because insects can't fly in consistent freezing weather. Some of our martins can su...

It certainly is fun to watch the wave of martins as they can be followed on the Scout Reports. It is amazing how accurate the projected arrivals are shown state by state on the maps on the Scout Reports! My main concern is the problems that severe cold weather can cause as our birds can starve when ...