Semi successful first year

[StillwaterMartins]

This is our first successful year for fledging purple martins, but our 6th year in trying to attract martins. We were able to attract a pair of SY martins 4 years ago, but all the babies died after 6 days from a large blow fly larvea infestation.

We attracted a pair of SY martins two years ago but none of the eggs hatched.

This year we attracted a pair of SY martins. They laid 5 eggs all of which hatched. We had unseasonably cold weather at the end of June and 4 of the babies died we believe from hypothermia. After we realized what happened, we were able to keep the gourd warm during the day and night with additional heat and the last baby survived and just fledged last week.

During the last week we were excited to see up to another 15 purple martins visiting our sight for 3 to 4 days, so we are hoping for a lot more nesting pairs next year.

All of the martins left for good on July 24th. We have only seen one or two martins fly through the area after that.

It was hard enough to loose 4 of the babies. I can't imagine loosing hundreds as I have read about from other colonies. I don't think I could take that.

I'm looking forward to next year and hoping to have a lot more nesting pairs. For now, it is too quite in our back yard.

Carol

[bwenger]

Carol,

Congratulations on your first successful year. Six years is a long time, but I imagine well worth the wait. It's too bad to have this cold spell hit and effect 80% of your hatchlings. We will all hope that your birds will come back next year and pull in other pairs.

Seeing your past martin activity, it sure shows how weekly nest checks and nest replacement can save a colony.

Good luck next year, and hope you have many happy martin years ahead of you.

Bill

[StillwaterMartins]

I think what really attracted attention this year was the new pole with 12 gourds on it. That seemed to attract a lot more interest this year than just the aluminum house we've had in the past.

With all the purple martins we saw towards the end right before our nestling fledged, we are hoping to have a lot more nesting pairs next year.

Carol

[Donnie Hurdt MN]

I think that the cool spell at the begining of June killed my chances of starting a coloney this year too. A subbie male was here for a week had a compartment picked out and was bringing a female in every day untill it cooled off. During the cool spell they quit coming and never came back.