Martin returns have really picked up here in southern Ia.

[lynnh]

We had about 30 here saturday morning by evening the count was approx 50 and tonite at least 80 to 90 birds came in as close as i could tell of course some of these might just be passing thru. Lynn.

[JamesinIA]

That is good to hear Lynn. Send some my way, the two that have been hanging out here need some company.

[lynnh]

I will see what i can do James.We had strong south winds with a high of 74 degrees yesterday maybe that had someting to do with the big increase.I have never seen it pick up so fast before.I had birds going into a t-14 that was still all the way down the gourds hanging below it were only 30"off the ground,all 4 THGs had birds in them by dark! Lynn.

[DakotaLady]

Lynn,

That would be amazing to see that many birds coming into your colony. I hope some of them are still on their way north. I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks as I'm thinking I will start seeing them migrate up into this area.

Enjoy your birds.

[phldave]

Lynn,

Send um on up, I've got 10 nice roomy and warm compartments just longing to have someone take up house keeping. And I just ordered 2 gourds to hang off the bottom of the house.

Dave

[lynnh]

Tangula,it was quite an experience for me,I had never seen such an increase in so short time!Hope you get some returns soon. Dave if i could send some your way i sure would.I do think some moved on.Hope you get some soon.I can tell you how things went for me when i first restarted this hobby, i guess is what i will call it at this location anyway.April 2006 i built my first t-14 had it up in the air by mid may or so,got the dawnsong cd started playing it 4am by 7am i had an sy male,i could not believe it.He stayed for awhile then took off.I just kept on playing the cd all day long,2 days later an sy pair showed up they hung around a while went in and out of several compartments of course they did not stay and nest.Anyway to make a long story shorter i played the cd almost 24-7 that summer had a lot of visitors clear through august.Spring of 2007 i was working out of state but got back home on mothers day.Lo and behold there was an sy male sitting on the gourd rack.Oh yes i had put up a gourd rack by then to Lol!Anyway i ran out opened the housing the martin started going in and out of the gourds he never left about dark here come 4 more sy birds those 5 birds stayed in 1 gourd that night.Next morning 4 more sy joined them i ended up with 2 nesting pr fledging 8 that summer along with 7 extra sy males.

[Dave Duit]

lynnh,
This is great news. I have about one fourth of my colony that have arrived. Waiting for another 75-100 to return. It has been a battle keeping them in good shape with the scrambled eggs. If we make it through friday it may stop raining and temps will increase.

[lynnh]

Hey,Dave I have been lucky so far,but i figure tomorrow or wednesday they will want some food. Ive got 3 thousand crickets coming tomorrow,hopefully those with eggs and mealworms will get them through this wk.I have a couple of beef hearts i am going to try as well.hope you have a good season.

[phldave]

Dave / Lynn

Have you got any SY birds around or are they still all ASY?

Dave

[J Getting]

Lynnh, if you try the beef hearts let us know how it worked for you... Jim

[Dave Duit]

still ASY. Please take a look at a post I just entered concerning a specific type of cat food soaked as a supplemental food.

[lynnh]

Phl Dave it will probably be at least 3 weeks before I see any sy birds.Jim sure will.got up to 52 degrees and sunny here today martins were out feeding somewhere this afternoon they came in at 7:30,lot of fighting went on so i think they are ok for now anyway.I even broke up 2 females that were on the ground fightin for the same THG...