They are back!.....but where did they go? Worried in No VA

[WanderingPM]

So on March 30th an Adult Male and Female show up. They hang out for two days. On the second day the Male is going in and out of the nesting cavity that was used by my first pair two years ago and it was used by a nesting pair last year - I am assuming it this is the same pair that started my colony. 2013 I had one successul pair (started by two adults) who fledged 4 PMs and in 2014 they returned and another adult pair also successully fledged a clutch - both fledging 4 each. So....hoping for a breakout year in 2015.

Anyway....saw them for two days of hanging out during the morning and seeing them in the late afternoon - they have disappeared? Where did they go? Where is the other pair? It has been unseasonable cool here in Northern Virginia with temps at night going down to the 30's and 40's with some days only in the 40's and 50's.

Did they go to warmer weather to wait out the cold? Are they dead from the cold?

[Chuck4]

So on March 30th an Adult Male and Female show up. They hang out for two days. On the second day the Male is going in and out of the nesting cavity that was used by my first pair two years ago and it was used by a nesting pair last year - I am assuming it this is the same pair that started my colony. 2013 I had one successul pair (started by two adults) who fledged 4 PMs and in 2014 they returned and another adult pair also successully fledged a clutch - both fledging 4 each. So....hoping for a breakout year in 2015.

Anyway....saw them for two days of hanging out during the morning and seeing them in the late afternoon - they have disappeared? Where did they go? Where is the other pair? It has been unseasonable cool here in Northern Virginia with temps at night going down to the 30's and 40's with some days only in the 40's and 50's.

Did they go to warmer weather to wait out the cold? Are they dead from the cold?

They are probably hanging out somewhere nearby like a large colony where they can stay warm and wait on more birds to arrive before claiming territory for breeding.

This is my third year hosting martins, and I always see the first male for a short while, then he goes away somewhere for about a week, then comes back with several visitors and/or ladies. The fact that the first arrivers seem to vanish lends credence to the notion that they would go back south to get more martins, which we now know they don't really do.

[WanderingPM]

Chuck,

Thanks for the reassuring words.

The weather on Friday April 10th was overcast and into the 40's. A new weather pattern came in late Friday afternoon pushing the temperatures in the 60's. Around 5:30 two pair of adults arrived going in and out of the cavities that were used to successfully fledge 2 clutches (assuming these are last year parents). The weather is forcasted to stay in the 60's for the next week. The birds must know this as well as they hung out all weekend having a grand ole time preening, singing, hunting bugs and sun bathing.

Hopefully they will attrack some new birds and we will have a break out year going from 2 nesting pair to 4+ nesting pair!

[taxidermy lady]

Chuck,
I hope that's what happened to mine. He showed up Friday! Now gone. Hope he brings back his girl! Thanks reassuring us!