Anyone know the approx weight of baby ready to fledge?

[Guest]

I was talking to the rehabber today. She is overloaded with martin babies, and several seem like they are ready to fledge. They are all different ages. She wants to isolate some of the more mature ones to test flying ability, but wants to make sure they are the proper weight first. Does anyone know?

[Michael Sanford ~ OK]

Hey Kelly,

They should be about the same weight as the adults or even a little heavier. According to the PMCA, adults weigh 1.9 oz. or 55 grams.

http://www.purplemartin.org/main/mgt.html

I talked to Rondi this afternoon. I took her my last two that had been abandoned. She told me that they have 53 martins down there! I'm going to see what I can do to help her release some of these when they are ready.

[Nanette]

I would venture to say that you can still have healthy fledglings at around 48 grams, perhaps even a little less. They actually begin to loose weight as they get close to fledging. They can loose up to 10 grams from their highest weight! I have found that their weight is highest somewhere around the 17 day mark.

There are many factors effecting weight such as brood size, weather, age of parents etc.

[ron20m]

I talked to a lady in Texas at Rogers Wildlife who seem ed to know what she was talking about and she said 44 grams minimum. I told Rhondi this and she weighed my babies and we let 12 go this am. very exciting to see them circling!