Was having a stressful day and decided to take Jake my beagle to the park..(Forest Park, St. Louis) and maybe look for martins, but assumed too early.
woo whoo... spotted a male and a female flying high in the sky over one house at west end of park...watched for a long time and chatted with a guy jogging by. will be a cold day tomorrow...today was mild... cloudy but low 50s and bugs out.
let the cricket patrol commence.
Earliest previous date a few years ago was March 10.
John Miller
P.S. Jake never looked up.
Martins in Forest Park, St. Louis..earliest ever
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John Miller
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Last edited by John Miller on Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Carlton
- Posts: 1959
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
- Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
- Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
I hope you have a good season.
My chihuahua/doxie mix accompanies me when I check for martins too.
My chihuahua/doxie mix accompanies me when I check for martins too.
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Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6208
- Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi, TX
I hope the weather will be a lot kinder to all the early birds this week - and the landlords caring for them!
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ljd-kc
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:05 am
- Location: Kansas City, Mo.
- Martin Colony History: Started my Colony in 2008 with 32 gourds and one ASY pair. As of 2017 I had 106 cavities with 106 pair.
Congratulations John!
I went to the scout report tonight before I went to the forum and, and wow I couldn't believe it, there was your report! In my neck of the woods the weather is supposed to turn for the better on Thursday but not so good before then. I'm excited for you but hope mine stay away for 2 or 3 more weeks. 3000 crickets arrived on Friday though just in case. My cavities are all closed up and I haven't put the pre-nests in yet! I'm sure your martins will be just fine though.
Jack
I went to the scout report tonight before I went to the forum and, and wow I couldn't believe it, there was your report! In my neck of the woods the weather is supposed to turn for the better on Thursday but not so good before then. I'm excited for you but hope mine stay away for 2 or 3 more weeks. 3000 crickets arrived on Friday though just in case. My cavities are all closed up and I haven't put the pre-nests in yet! I'm sure your martins will be just fine though.
Jack
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Keith
- Posts: 435
- Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:45 pm
- Location: Missouri/Ava
- Martin Colony History: 85 pair in 2020. Seems fairly consistent the last few years.
Hello John,
Those birds must have flown right over my head just to get to your site. Do you suppose those "early birds" knew that daylight savings time is soon and will give them an extra hour to find insects. (JUST KIDDING)
Congratulations and hope you have a great year and hopefully our weather will not be too drastic.
Keith
Those birds must have flown right over my head just to get to your site. Do you suppose those "early birds" knew that daylight savings time is soon and will give them an extra hour to find insects. (JUST KIDDING)
Congratulations and hope you have a great year and hopefully our weather will not be too drastic.
Keith
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John Miller
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Guys I could hardly believe it myself. Spent quite a bit of time observing and went back to the car to get my binoculars.
Speculating that some of the martins here might have reset their clocks last season as they tended to fledge early. They did not have to contend with the usual cool spells in early spring last year and nests progressed quickly. Last year, St. Louis was more like Dallas.
or...the sites are getting older, like me, and I've now got a few very old birds. You know..I bet that's it.
Oh..it was one male and one female.
John
Speculating that some of the martins here might have reset their clocks last season as they tended to fledge early. They did not have to contend with the usual cool spells in early spring last year and nests progressed quickly. Last year, St. Louis was more like Dallas.
or...the sites are getting older, like me, and I've now got a few very old birds. You know..I bet that's it.
Oh..it was one male and one female.
John
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Craig Haddox
- Posts: 444
- Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 5:13 pm
- Location: Missouri Washington
Congratulation's John. My earliest is March 10th. I will have everything ready this weekend. Good luck this year.
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tonyg
- Posts: 1520
- Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:16 pm
- Location: Olpe, KS
- 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..
Congrats John! Their in good hands now! Any day now for me!!! I'm as excited as pigs in shinola!!!
22 year landlord..9 Rack Systems for 2018 and my home built T-8 for a total of 166 cavities..160 pair in 2018 ..SUPER COLONY!!! Love You Bev... Fan of those St. Louis Cardinals!!!!!
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Jeff Robinson
- Posts: 908
- Joined: Mon May 04, 2009 3:32 pm
- Location: Rogersville, Missouri
- Martin Colony History: 2008 - Current
72 Cavities - 70 Pairs in 2021
PM Mentor
Martin's blessed your day John - they have a way of doing that for most of us. Congrats!
My snow-martin is back. I'm sure he'll soon have companions.
Jeff
My snow-martin is back. I'm sure he'll soon have companions.
Jeff
PMCA Member - Bedrock Colony
I'm like Randy, we have 10-12 inches of snow on the ground. Really hard to walk to the martin houses. No bugs anywhere. But soon we are suppose to get into the 50's so alot of this will go away. I'm ready. Both me and the wife have been stuck in the driveway several times. I'm tired of shoveling snow.
dave
dave
PMCA member
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jr 2
- Posts: 749
- Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:20 pm
- Location: ohio,proctorville(just across ohio river from huntington,west virginia)
congrats john;;maby mine will be early but this is only my 3rd year;been looking too the sky;seen all kinds of birds on 2 martin houses 2 blocks down but i think they are starlings as i don't belive that the people close the holes up on their housing and i couldn't see real good from a distance;;;going too try and get houses up this weekend when it is going too be in the 50's;;my first one last year was march 14th;wishing everyone a good year;jr2
PMCA member; s 2011 2 pair fledged 3; 2012 3 asy pair,4 sy pair,2013 8 asy pair,6 sy pair;2014 19 asy pair,2 sy pair
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Connie
- Posts: 441
- Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:05 pm
- Location: WALKER, LOUISIANA
- Martin Colony History: Had my site up to 22 gourds of which most (+/-3) stayed occupied.
Downsized to 17 gourds due to back surgeries. Had 14 families in 2017 but did not do nest checks due to health. Feeling better in 2018 and hoping for a good year.
Cool Beans John!
Were you too shy to do the happy dance in the park? I didn't see where you mentioned dancing....hmmm....probably waited till you got home, huh?
Have a great year!!
Were you too shy to do the happy dance in the park? I didn't see where you mentioned dancing....hmmm....probably waited till you got home, huh?
Have a great year!!
Connie
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John Miller
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
An update: Just back from the park where I put crickets in compartments.
Yesterday turned very cold with light snow -- now melted -- and gusty winds so I just left the two martins alone and hoped they had holed up in the house.
This morning, 32 degrees and cloudy. Lowered house and both flew out flying strongly and I put a big spoonful of crickets in each of three open compartments (Trendsetter 12 unit).
by the time I raised the house, the martins had disappeared but within minutes came back and both dashed right back in one unit.
I did check a second house the martins tend to favor in the park and tapped on the pole but no one flew out, so I assume these two are the lone early birds.
I have good luck with compartment feeding this way, especially very early in the season when just a small number of martins have returned.
Warming weather by Friday and through the weekend.
Very odd that I'm the only person in the region with martins, but looking at scout reports, it's not uncommon at older, large sites to some years to have one or two very early and other years not.
So wonderful that we can take care of these birds. Just imagine, a few days ago these martins were down in Venezuela somewhere, maybe saying goodbye to Chavez (okay, enough coffee for me).
John M
Yesterday turned very cold with light snow -- now melted -- and gusty winds so I just left the two martins alone and hoped they had holed up in the house.
This morning, 32 degrees and cloudy. Lowered house and both flew out flying strongly and I put a big spoonful of crickets in each of three open compartments (Trendsetter 12 unit).
by the time I raised the house, the martins had disappeared but within minutes came back and both dashed right back in one unit.
I did check a second house the martins tend to favor in the park and tapped on the pole but no one flew out, so I assume these two are the lone early birds.
I have good luck with compartment feeding this way, especially very early in the season when just a small number of martins have returned.
Warming weather by Friday and through the weekend.
Very odd that I'm the only person in the region with martins, but looking at scout reports, it's not uncommon at older, large sites to some years to have one or two very early and other years not.
So wonderful that we can take care of these birds. Just imagine, a few days ago these martins were down in Venezuela somewhere, maybe saying goodbye to Chavez (okay, enough coffee for me).
John M
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John Miller
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
Update: Very happy to report my two very early martins -- male and female that act as a pair -- are still here...alive and well. Have been very worried with marginal weather -- well, one day snow -- and they did not eat my crickets in the compartment. This usually works for me..but not this time.
Then they disappeared for a day and I was not sure if spending night. but this evening in the park I strained my eyes and about 30 minutes before last light I saw two specks miles high, flying suspicously like martins. More I looked through my binoculars, I made a positive martin ID. They were flying miles high and diving and darting like they owned the sky above the city. Finally at 6:01 p.m. -- fading light -- they folded back their wings and dove downward toward the house, gave just a soft chrip and zoomed right into their compartment -- the pair.
whew...John Miller
Then they disappeared for a day and I was not sure if spending night. but this evening in the park I strained my eyes and about 30 minutes before last light I saw two specks miles high, flying suspicously like martins. More I looked through my binoculars, I made a positive martin ID. They were flying miles high and diving and darting like they owned the sky above the city. Finally at 6:01 p.m. -- fading light -- they folded back their wings and dove downward toward the house, gave just a soft chrip and zoomed right into their compartment -- the pair.
whew...John Miller
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Craig Haddox
- Posts: 444
- Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 5:13 pm
- Location: Missouri Washington
John, glad to here your martins made it. I have everything up and ready to go. Hope to see some by next weekend.