Purple Martin Update...March 6, 2015

[Steve Kroenke]

The terrible cold wet weather has ended and now warmer weather with some actual sunshine has arrived in northwest Louisiana. I thought the sun had vanished!

Though we did lose some purple martins during the weather disaster like many other landlords in the Deep South, many "replacement" martins have been arriving. Today March 6, 2015 more martins came to my colony and Bob's site and the fighting between males and between females in growing intense. Martins are battling each other all the way to the ground and staying there for minutes!

I really don't know how many martins we have at this time but our numbers are way below what we had last year at this time. If I had to give a number, we probably have 60+ martins in our two colonies right now. Last year we had several hundred martins at this time.

All my gourd racks and Trendsetters have several martins in them and the Troyer Horizontals with tunnels/porches and with cling plates are definitely the most popular gourds.

March is the main month for ASY martins to arrive with some continuing in April. The first SY males tend to show up around the last week of March with most SYs coming in April and continuing through May.

So far I have only shot one male starling and I did trap 14 starlings prior to the martins' arrival. My early starling trapping program greatly reduces the number of starlings later on when the martins are here. We really don't have much of a starling problem. We only shot four in 2014 and none caused any problems for the martins. Any starling that flies down to investigate is in grave danger of meeting the Grim Reaper!

House sparrows are even less of a threat than starlings and only occasionally do we have to shoot or trap one. We usually shoot several male sparrows each season at our personal colonies.

We should see more ASY martins arriving daily through March with a big wave coming during the final two weeks.

Steve

[tonyg]

Hey Steve, how many martins do you think perished at you and Bob's site? Has been a brutal weather pattern for sure..glad you are receiving replacements !!

[Vern1]

Kinda the same here.
Our first Martin showed up on Feb 9th - almost a full month ago.
During that time, it's been a roller coaster of temperatures.
I have flipped more crickets this year than all previous years combined and was surprised they remembered and picked it back up so quickly.
The cold weather here earlier in the week was brutal to say the least.
I only know of one ASY male that died in one of the gourds the Martins were communal roosting in.
Don't know if I lost any that grounded themselves but feel good about the colony's health.
I have another crate of 1000 crickets on standby if needed!

The last two days here have been cold in the mornings but warming nicely into the afternoon.
The Martins have been feeding regularly and from the looks of them, are doing well.
They have been socializing in the mornings and the fights over prime cavities have started.
This has been compounded by increasing numbers of arrivals over the last two days.
Last night the wife and I sat out and counted 35 coming into the racks just after sundown.

Today started considerably warmer and the Martins are already socializing on the racks and zipping around.

Judging by weather forecast and the amount of birds here already, the next week should be interesting.

[birdy girl]

Thanks for the update Steve! Sorry you and Bob lost some martins. It hurts:(
But no matter what you do, all will just not eat, or they won't at out colony. It is always nice to now what is going on at other colonies and how many martins are coming in. Maybe all the really bad prolonged weather is over. Will look forward to more future updates.

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Tony,

When the bad weather started, we had about 40 martins in our two colonies which is not many for us. I believe we may have lost at least half these since some of the martins did actually eat crickets that I placed on two of my Trendsetter porches and these martins may have survived. Many martins, including Bob's, communally roosted in these Trendsetters and these martins most likely ate crickets off the porches and those inside the compartments. I did see some females eat crickets.

Fortunately the weather has gotten much better and more martins are returning daily and these are replacing the lost ones.

You should be seeing some martins in your area soon! Please let us know when your "scout" arrives so we can celebrate the great news with you, too!

Steve

Hey Vern1,

Thanks for sharing your encouraging news! Hopefully most of your martins survived and since they readily ate crickets that kept them alive. I still have over a thousand crickets in the freezer.

I have never seen such terrible weather that lasted so long. Our weather disaster lasted just over a week and I believe untold numbers of ASY martins perished unless they had access to supplemental food.

Our martins are now feeding well and with the warm weather more martins are arriving. A good number arrived today and it should be interesting at roosting time to see how many are here!

Good luck in 2015!

Steve

Hey Birdy Girl,

Yes, we don't like losing martins, particularly to weather disasters. This bad weather just would NOT go away! It stayed in our area for just over a week and severely hurt any martins here. But better weather is here now and I just hope it lasts.

Some of the martins did actually eat the crickets but others did not. I am going to start using a raised tray for egg/oyster shells and train martins to use it. Then during bad weather, I could place crickets on the tray and perhaps martins would be more inclined to eat them here.

I am glad you like the updates and I hope you will share more updates about your outstanding martin colony with us!

Good luck this year with your martins!

Steve

[pmartinlover2]

Sounds like things are looking up in the South. Thanks everyone for your martin reports.
_____
Jody

[Steve Kroenke]

Just a short update...

More martins have arrived but the weather has turned off kind of nasty again with temperatures in the upper 40s and steady rain. Tomorrow more rain but temperatures in the mid-50s if the weather report is correct.

There is a female merlin that is striking fear in our martins and she appeared this morning but did not attack. Merlins are small falcons and extremely fast and will pursue martins for hundreds of yards in breathtaking chases. Martins can't outfly merlin by speed but can usually out maneuver them provided the martins KNOW the merlin is after them.

I have a single martin decoy on about a 12 foot pole located around 100 feet south of my colony in an open area. This decoy is a magnet to merlins and Accipiters and may draw them while the martins climb to the safety of the open sky. I watched a small male merlin hit that decoy FOUR times before he finally decided he couldn't eat it! By then ALL the martins were way up in the sky and safe. And I observed a high flying female sharp-shinned hawk drop like a bullet and hit the decoy hard! She looked rather "dazed and confused" and left the area!

With all the rain and cool temperatures today, the martins are not that active though some have flown out. Most are staying inside their nests.

Steve

[Suzanne]

What a thrill it was to see 4 adult martins returning to our small colony in Granbury! I was sure our martins didn't survive the ice, snow and sub-freezing temps for so many days. I had not seen the martins for almost 10 days but they have returned! I could hear a Martin this morning in the distance so I ran and got my computer with the daytime chatter CD and after about 30 minutes I had 4 adult martins hovering over me. I filled their feeder with mealworms, oyster shells, and chilled crickets. Now just have to keep getting rid of those sparrows!

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Suzanne,

Thanks for sharing your good news about the return of purple martins to your colony! The weather ordeal martins in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and other southern states have suffered has been a disaster in many cases. I am glad your martins are home and they are responding to supplemental food.

We are still having some nasty wet cool weather and yesterday it rained constantly. Today looks nasty too but will be a little warmer. I think the martins will do OK!

Good luck in getting rid of those sparrows!

Steve

[Todd Wright]

Steve,
I made it through the cold and ice/snow for two weeks without any losses that I know of but this steady rain yesterday and today is taking its toll. I found 2 dead martins yesterday and came home today to find a grounded martin sitting in the rain. I got it and have it in a box put food in but hasn't eaten as of yet. I have a post about this situation waiting for someone to give me ideas or contact for a rehabber in my area. I fed several times yesterday putting crickets in compartments, porches, and flipping and just got through feeding today- they all seemed hungry and started buzzing me when I walked out.

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Todd,

I am sorry about your recent martin losses. This weather has been the most disastrous I have ever seen for purple martins. I haven't seen any downed martins from this recent rain. It has been at least warm enough for some insects to fly when the rain stops for a short while. I have seen martins fly out and catch the insects during these brief periods. But the rain has been relentless for two days.

Perhaps the dying or dead martins you are finding are either migrants or have just arrived in a weakened condition and the endless rain and cooler temperatures kept them from feeding. We may have some of these martins, too but so far the ones I am seeing are flying pretty good.

I tried to hand feed at least five martins during the cold weather and only one female survived. All the others eventually died even though I fed them plenty of crickets. These martins were just too far gone I believe.

Tomorrow is supposed to be much better with little chance of rain and temperatures in the low to mid 60s. But I will believe it when I see it!

We have many fewer martins at this time than we did in 2014. No doubt the horrible weather has contributed to this. However, I have seen fewer martins arriving and this was before the bad cold weather took hold. I will carefully monitor the population status of our martin colonies after this last nasty weather finally leaves by tomorrow.

I hope you have no more martin losses and by tomorrow maybe the weather situation will improve.

Steve