do all martins use same nest material
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John Miller
- Posts: 4863
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Martins seem to vary quite a bit. I think the females find something they like and keep going back.
The most interesting and good-choice material I've noticed over the years -- the martins at one our housing sites in Forest Park fly to upper large limbs of some tall cypress trees and work hard at stripping off bits of bark. I've seem some do this to the peely bark on tall sycamore as well. This seems like a good nest material, and a safe area to be collecting.
John M
The most interesting and good-choice material I've noticed over the years -- the martins at one our housing sites in Forest Park fly to upper large limbs of some tall cypress trees and work hard at stripping off bits of bark. I've seem some do this to the peely bark on tall sycamore as well. This seems like a good nest material, and a safe area to be collecting.
John M
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flyin-lowe
- Posts: 3788
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:49 am
- Location: Indiana/Henry Co.
I always put a base of pine straw down but the last to years the nest have been mainly made of strips of fodder from the corn field behind my house. I have never seen any mud either, but a lot of people report that.
2026 HOSP 26
2025 62 pair HOSP 20
2024 60 pair, HOSP 44
2023 60+ pair, HOSP 8
2022 60 nests with 262 eggs, HOSP 14
2021 62 pair, HOSP 9
2020 42 nest, HOSP 8
2019- 31 pair
2018- 15 pair 49 fledged
2017 3 SY pair, 12 eggs , fledged 10. 4 additional lone SY's
2016 1 pair fledged 4
2015 Visitors
2014 Visitors
2013 Moved 6 miles, 1 pair fledged 2.
2012 30 pair fledged 100.
2011 12 pair 43 fledged.
2010 5 pair 14 fledged.
2025 62 pair HOSP 20
2024 60 pair, HOSP 44
2023 60+ pair, HOSP 8
2022 60 nests with 262 eggs, HOSP 14
2021 62 pair, HOSP 9
2020 42 nest, HOSP 8
2019- 31 pair
2018- 15 pair 49 fledged
2017 3 SY pair, 12 eggs , fledged 10. 4 additional lone SY's
2016 1 pair fledged 4
2015 Visitors
2014 Visitors
2013 Moved 6 miles, 1 pair fledged 2.
2012 30 pair fledged 100.
2011 12 pair 43 fledged.
2010 5 pair 14 fledged.
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dancingirl76
- Posts: 94
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 10:09 am
- Location: Albia, IA
mine are using pieces of hay/straw only
dancingirl76
Funny you should ask, I shot this pic just yesterday... dead live oak leaves, twigs... and plastic zip ties 
...and, just about 200 yards away in back of the school, also in a Bo 11...
grass clippings with a little mud laid on....
Mostly, our martins will take whatever they can find on the ground around the nest site.
MIke Scully
...and, just about 200 yards away in back of the school, also in a Bo 11...
grass clippings with a little mud laid on....
Mostly, our martins will take whatever they can find on the ground around the nest site.
MIke Scully
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pugsleyhall
- Posts: 268
- Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 4:28 pm
- Location: Alabama/Grant
Mike,
Love the zip ties, so funny what birds use in their nests!
Melissa
Love the zip ties, so funny what birds use in their nests!
Melissa
Proud member of the PMCA
2008-0
2009-0
2010-Several Lookers
2011-Quite a few visitors but none stayed
2008-0
2009-0
2010-Several Lookers
2011-Quite a few visitors but none stayed
Oak leaves and twigs are the favorite here, but one pair has built with only twigs, all about the same diameter, and all about five inches long. It looks like they ordered them from a supply house!
The sy female at my house in MI goes down to the garden and picks up pieces of dead grasss and parts of last years dead cattails. Today there was a piece of cattail stalk about 12" long hanging off the porch. I don't know how she got it all the way up there but it got caught on the porch railing and they worked on it all morning until they dragged it through the hole!
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The Walvoords
- Posts: 55
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:31 am
- Location: Cleveland/Wisconsin
Mine like shredded corn stalks and peices of the corn roots. Pretty coarse stuff. Some make shelves of mud along with the other materials. When it comes time to bring in green leaves, most are preferring pear tree leaves, while some like Willow or pieces of Maple leaves. This year there has been some straw materials showing up which makes me very suspicious about HOSPs intruding. I try to keep a good eye out for that,long pieces of grass and feathers are a sure sign of HOSPs going in.
Anna
Anna
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Joe Zorn
I have one female that visits the same gourd each year that strips out every piece of nesting material that I supply, and lays her eggs on the bare gourd floor.
This year one of my wooden house rooms is like that, and the gourd that is usually bare has a very dense nest. I guess someone got there before her and she moved to the wooden house.
And the nests are all different. Grass, straw, pine needles, even cedar bark in a couple. As John Miller said, I think that the mother finds a good stash of nest material and keeps returning to it as long as it lasts.
This year one of my wooden house rooms is like that, and the gourd that is usually bare has a very dense nest. I guess someone got there before her and she moved to the wooden house.
And the nests are all different. Grass, straw, pine needles, even cedar bark in a couple. As John Miller said, I think that the mother finds a good stash of nest material and keeps returning to it as long as it lasts.