What happened???

birdy girl · Thu May 15, 2014 10:44 pm

This morning before I got home, Chris saw several males attacking a female martin. He scared the males off and said it appeared the female was injured. She couldn't fly and he finally caught her on the ground, put her in box in house till I got home from work. I checked on her briefly and she was crouched in a corner. About 30 minutes later I looked in box picked her up and SHE HAD LAID AN EGG IN THE BOX!!! I picked her up and released her in the house and she flew across the room and back. So I released her and she flew just fine. Now I have to find a nest with 1 or 2 eggs and put egg in nest and hope it hatches. This was a strange occurrence. Was she in process of laying an egg is how hubby caught a perfectly healthy martin on the ground? He said she couldn't fly but fluttered along on ground till he caught her.

Chuck4 · Thu May 15, 2014 10:51 pm

Males will band up and all try to mate a female. Sounds like that's what happened. I'm having that to a lesser extent at my colony too. It is a common occurance among martins in a colonial setting. The situation is overwhelming to the female, and it can actually kill her.

Winger · Fri May 16, 2014 12:04 am

birdy girl,

As a "newbie" (our first year with 5 pair in 2010) you were the first person to respond to our first post.

Although I have no plausable answers to your current post I will be following your saga.

You will always have a special place in our "learning curve" of Martins. Still thanking you for your knowledge & advice.

Wishing you nothing but the best... Tammy Winger see below...

(fyi: so far this year as of 05/11/14 we have 244 eggs...nest check scheduled for tomorrow so hopefully more eggs (and possibly some hatchlings). Some people truly make a differance in this world and you are one of them!

Steve Kroenke · Fri May 16, 2014 4:49 am

Hey Birdy Girl,

During the breeding season when female martins are getting ready to lay eggs and particularly in large colonies, gangs of ASY males will rape these females in violent attacks. The males KNOW when a female martin apparently needs to be fertilized and they will rape her. I have had females seriously injured and even killed by these "sex crazed" gangs of ASY males. ALL males want to spread their genes!

This year I have rescued a number of females from gangs of males after the males beat the females down on my lawn or in nearby hayfields. The females became wet from morning dew and could not fly. I had to literally chase the males off these females. And yes, I have had females lay eggs in a box after one of these savage attacks.

In the worse attacks, I had males break a female martin's wing when a gang pounced on her. Other females were injured when males hit the females hard against the side of a house/gourd.

Here is a link to older article dealing with "Male Purple Martins Behaving Badly"; I share some of my insights and observations about this disturbing subject:

http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewt ... ving+badly

Steve

Laverne · Fri May 16, 2014 8:07 am

Here's another idea. Unattached females will need to lay their egg. If she cannot find a vacant cavity or maybe she wants to lay her egg in another females nest...??? Anyway, a huge fight will ensue between the females and then the males get involved and all you see is the end of it on the ground. Think about it!

Anthony Neira · Sat May 17, 2014 12:14 am

Birdy Girl, Yes it's hard to see this happen, I recently was looking at my four front houses when I saw a female go into a room, a little while later, I see another female go in the same room! Oh oh! A big fight started, & as I ran to lower the house, one of them came halfway out and did a wing entrapment right before my eyes! As I helped her out, I saw that she had one glazed over eye, and it looked like she just laid an egg. The other female was laying on top of some eggs, but flew out. I did'nt know who was who, so I put the one eye, tired f. on top of the eggs & waited. about 30+ min. I checked the house again & she was dead. Right after I took her out & raised the house, the other female, & a male flew in. Was the one eye f. Old?? But laid an egg in the other birds nest?? I recently checked the nest and All of the eggs have hatched! Is her's one of them?? Strange that the bird who killed the other may raised that ones egg. Of course all in defending her nest. These things , sadly, happen. Good luck, Anthony

birdy girl · Sat May 17, 2014 5:27 pm

Tammy,
Thank you for your kind comments. So glad that something I posted helped you to get martins or helped with your colony in some way. I totally love martins and do what I can to help. Sounds like your colony has grown a whole lot.

We have female martins get mobbed by male martins a lot but never seen us be able to catch a martin on the ground that wasn't injured. She flew just fine when released. Maybe she was addled or totally exhausted is why she couldn't fly when Chris caught her.

Just glad she wasn't injured.

Thanks for all in input.