Crops affect on my martin site.

flyin-lowe · Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:21 pm

I was sitting at dinner tonight wandering about the affect that a field of corn would have on my site. The most open place in my yard is along the back fence and there is hundreds of acres of open field behind me. One year the field is corn the next year it is beans. This year is corn. Early in the spring when I had some SY visitors the corn had not been planted yet. By the first of July the corn was about 3 foot high. I have not seen any action at all since the first of July but a lot of sites around me are about to fledge so I am anticipating some visitors. Anyway right now the corn is about 5-7 foot tall.
If I did get martins to nest at my site what affect would this corn growing about 10-15 foot away from the housing have on them. I hadn't ever really thought about this until lately as I usually do most of observing in the spring. Would martins abandon a nest late in the season if they felt the site was being encroached by the growing corn? Or might they nest and then not return next year? I will attach a photo of my housing and an overhead of my property.
You will notice the large tree by the garage was cut last year.

The Olsons · Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:31 pm

I personally think you have a great and open site....the corn or beans should not be a problem.....best wishes for your 2009 martin season

Astrid

Guest · Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:39 pm

I have a pole at the very edge of a corn field, the corn is only about 4ft from the pole, that is not anything to worry about.

Perry D. Vogel · Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:47 pm

Purple Martins regularly forage aerially on insects over corn, potato, small grain, and sugar beet fields. Also, Purple Martins have been commonly observed aerially-foraging over land planted to soybeans.

http://www.audubon.org/bird/waterbirds/ ... 20Corn.pdf

http://www.audubon.org/bird/waterbirds/ ... ybeans.pdf

I don't know what affects pesticide use may have, but the field type could only be positive being totally unobstructed flying space.

Carlton · Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:14 am

I do not think the corn would be a problem with such an open site.

Is the corn sprayed or dusted with insecticides? I know that some farmers around here use aerial spraying of some crop fields. I believe that sweet corn is often sprayed or dusted with Sevin which has a very low toxicity to warm blooded animals such as martins and humans.

flyin-lowe · Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:37 am

I know the corn around here gets sprayed early on but with what I'm not sure. This year with all of the flooding many farmers could not get into the fields to spray so I have seen a lot more crop dusters flying around. They are not typically common in this area but this year they are being used a lot more.

Heres how it looks as of today.

Allan Day · Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:13 pm

From my limited experience and observations from around NC, I think you are fine.
I see many colonies set up in similar proximity to the corn. My Crepe Myrtle Tree encroaches much closer than that late in the season and the Martins don't seem to mind. It will be trimmed almost to the ground before they return. Someday I'll figure out how to post a pic

TreeGreenwood · Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:45 pm

My site is similar, with a corn/bean field on two sides of my property. Martins seem to love it. Slivers of corn stalk are their primary nest material at my place.

flyin-lowe · Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:17 pm

Thats good to know. I was just sitting there the other night thinking that with all that corn this house must look like it about 4 foot off of the ground from the air. But I also know that during nesting season it is not an issue.

gwarnerjr · Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:28 pm

I am in the same boat as you but only surrounded by 38 acres of corn/beans. I have had no problems and agree that corn fodder as well as bean stalks make popular nest building material. The only problem I can see, by looking at your last pic, would be if that corn gets taller than your PM house!!!

flyin-lowe · Tue Jul 29, 2008 6:01 am

I hope not. Thats a 21 foot pole and its about 4.5 foot in the ground so the bottom of the house is about 14 foot or so in the air.

djmains · Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:43 am

I have the same thing at my place and it doesn't seem to matter that means there is more bugs for them to eat do you have an established colony? If you watch martins come out of the housing they like to drop about 10ft down and a forty foot run before they come up into the air but they are very adaptable it looks like a good place and how far is the housing away form your house the rule is 40 to 120ft but depends on different situations.

Guest · Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:01 pm

A cornfield should provide many insects to be dined upon. My sons and I walked by a cornfield early one morning and heard a crunching sound coming from it. We investigated closer and it was thousands maybe millions of grasshoppers happily chomping away at the leaves and such. Together they made the strangest sound as we were walking down a country road. I don't know how many grasshoppers a martin would eat, probably as many as he could catch....