First nest fledges in Central Wisconsin

[Ed Svetich-WI]

A nest of five 26 day old martins fledged this afternoon. It is going to be busy around here the next week or so with several others currently at 26 days of age, a couple at 25 days and several others just a day or two behind.

I chanced two nest checks to confirm hatching dates and some overdue nest changes about noon and had seven more nestlings in two nests that had hatched two days ago. Their parents were SYs. There are still thirteen eggs due to hatch between the 14th and the 20th. The last is a renesting by a pair of ASY who lost all five of their 4 day old young on June 24, 25 after a day and a half of cool temps, rain and wind. They have 5 new eggs. If they hatch, the last brood will fledge 5 weeks after the first fledglings. Nest changes have become challenging. I do not know how those with very large colonies manage.

So far, we have 78 young from 19 pair and a potential for up to 13 more from the three remaining nests. Other than losing 8 young due to weather and three to unknown causes, this has been our best year. We are at 22 pair this year, up from 1 pair in 2007, 2 in 2008, 4 in 2009 and 11 in 2010. We hope that no issues arise in the next couple of weeks but about 14 nests should fledge young within the next week so every day without problems increases the odds in the birds favor. We have one healthy clutch of seven due to fledge in three days. That pair deserves a medal!

It took us over twenty years to reach this point. Without the PMCA, I would have continued to wander aimlessly. Never give up.

Ed

[mjneppl]

good job

i had no luck here in seymour, wi

but my dad in crivtiz is having his best year ever. he should have 30 babies make it

[Ed Svetich-WI]

Sorry to hear that. I know the frustration of trying to get a colony started. My mentee near here has had one pair for the past two years and has not been able to attract any additional pairs. His current concern and my previous concern had always been to get to a point where I had enough martins to reach critical mass so that I would be more or less assured that a core of martins would survive the migration to return to nest the following year.

I have 25 available cavities this year and only two showed no nesting activity. One has had a completed nest but never had any eggs laid and the pair finally left after a month. Next year I am replacing my two converted Trio houses with gourds. I will have a total of 24 Super Gourds and Excluders with either crescent or modified Excluder entrances. I have found the gourds to be easier to manage and provide a larger cavity when compared to even the modified cavities in the Trio houses.

With the young fledged this year, I hope that many will return and start new colonies here in the area. We seem to be making some progress with a couple new small colonies and several good sites with new T-14s and gourds that are still waiting for martins.

Good luck next year.

Ed

[Vern1]

Congratulations Ed,
Despite the bad weather, it seems to be a good reconstruction year for Martins, even here in the middle of the drought.

I can only imagine how busy the parents of 7 babies would be.
I had one nest that fledged 5 this year but they fledged early in the season before the heat got so bad.
Luckily, we had and still have a good flying insect crop this year.

The bumper crop of flying insects may be why the adults are still coming for morning visits even tho the last babies fledged two weeks ago.

Twenty years of dedication also deserves a medal, my friend!

[mjneppl]

my dad has been doing good with the Northstar. we each have one--- i think that and gourds is the way to go. that is what i have up.