Hi all,
I have only been on here since 2005, but I don't remember seeing so many landlords discouraged so early in the season.
Ironically, a few landlords appear to have lots of pms.
Please post and share...how many birds/pairs you had last year and how many do you have this year?
This will give us all a good perspective of how we stand relative to others in what appears to be an atypical Purple Martin season.
I'll start: Last year I had three pairs. Right now I have just one ASY pair.
I wish you all well and a great, prosperous season!
My colony is standing about the same as it has been for the past 3 years since I quit expanding and actually reduced my number of cavities. Right now I have almost a full house. 80 gourds hanging, pretty much all are filled. There is room for a few more SY females. Egg laying is about 10 days later than the past years. My first bird arrived 3 weeks later than last year, and about a week later than the normal time for our area. This has been the year of the House Sparrow. I have had more problems with them this year than in any year since I trapped and killed over 300 when I started with Martins.
Last year, my main site was hit by raccoons, even with pole guards, then an owl. I am not expecting much if any this year at this site.
Smaller site 1/4 mile north, had 11 nests fledge. I had 2 ASY males show up April 5th and a 3rd April 6th, was down to 2 on April 9th and the next day no martins and I have not had any stay since the 9th.
A neighboring site had 11 as of earlier this week, seems like his site is doing well. I bet the 3 males from my site headed over there.
Let's see, I had 72 pairs last year. I started Martinwatch last week and it revealed 60 nest in various stages of completion with 35 to 40 being completed or so very close to be completed. I will conduct another check today. I would say I'm at the very least, close to last years pair totals and will probably exceed it as time goes on. I expect to find a few eggs today as breeding has been witnessed this past week. It will probably be atleast 2 to 3 weeks before I have the numbers pinned downed accurately.
Hi, I'm new to the forum. Don't have a big colony. So far I have 6 pairs with all 6 building nests. Have 6 asy males. 2 sy females showed up yesterday. We did some changes this year & I believe It has really helped. Last year We lost all babys from three nests. I think it was a snake. I was worried We might not get any this year but I think changes have helped. we added six bo eleven plus gourds which allows air to enter & surround the gourd to keep it cooler. We added 2- 90 degree elbows on all of the regular big bo gourds 11 of them. We added tunnels to all gourds. At first I thought they might not take to them but they seem to really like them. We have a 12 room plastic house but so far no takers they want the gourds and the males fight over them constantly. I think the birds are running a little late this year, so everone hang in there and good luck to all of us. By the way have been a landlord for 5 years after trying for fifteen. Regards
This year can't tell yet. Too many to count. Don't know how many pairs. Seems to be allot of ASY males. Have a few SY but the big influx of SY like I had last year haven't made it yet. They are behind on everything. Starting to nest build so I'll be able to tell how many pairs. Praying for all Yall who are having trouble this year.
Last year was my first year I had 2 asy pair and 1 sy pair, several early jumpers due to heat. So far this year I have 5 asy pair and 1 lone asy male. No subbies. Nest building has begun but no eggs yet.
Currently I am only offering 9 enlarged compartments w/sreh.
Martin Colony History: 22 year landlord, 14 at current residence..offering 9 racks and a homemade T-8 for 166 total cavities. 160 Pair in 2018 Racks consist of a Deluxe 12, AAA 16, Starburst 16, 2 K-18 Series, Super 24, 2 Gemini, Multi-purpose/two trio’s/4gourds and a T-8..Great hobby to be involved in..
Last year had 32 pair with 115 fledge (best year to date) this year so far i'm counting (which is hard) 40 to 50 birds. They are building nest and will do nest checks in weeks to come to finalize pair count. I to seem to have influx of ASY males and no subbies as of yet..I'm thinking birds were earlier this year..hoping for more ASY females..so in short i'm a little down in count so far..have 71 cavities in all available..
