Storm brough Martins & Chimney Swifts

[ToyinPA]

Here in central PA we had a bad storm last night. Hail damaged our siding & put dents in my husbands truck :(. No damage to the martin houses, which are a heavy plastic used in dog kennels.

Anyway we counted 5 martins last night just before the storm hit around 7:30PM. Same amount we've had for the last few days. We lowered the houses down 3 feet due to severe thunder storm & possible tornado warnings.

At 7 AM this morning my husband counted 7 martins. At 10AM we saw them all flying overhead & there were also 2 Chimney Swifts with them. I haven't seen them close enough to see if the female my husband saw is ASY or SY.

We're in for a chilly weather into May now.

Toy in PA

[Dan G]

We had the same storm. Pea size hail, but not for long. No damage that i'm aware of. I did not think about lowering our martin house till after the storm was severe . I will have to be a bit more diligent in the future.

[ToyinPA]

We had the same storm. Pea size hail, but not for long. No damage that i'm aware of. I did not think about lowering our martin house till after the storm was severe . I will have to be a bit more diligent in the future.

We had 1 inch hail. Yards were covered in hail. Many had damage to siding, roofs, damage to cars. One neighbor had a window in her house brokeen. We got close to 2 inches of rain in just over an hour.

When I had S&K barn houses on tri-tel poles we always lowered them way down. Once a storm hit before we could lower them & one came crashing down. I now have 2 T-10 houses on 3 inch square pole/winches. I lower them down about 3-4 feet to take the pressure off the top of the pole.

I always do the martin houses & any outdoor stuff first then we close our house windows, etc when storms are approaching. Better safe than sorry.

Toy in PA

[Hanover Bill]

Hi Toy;

We were lucky over here, no severe weather, but I figured you guys were in for it over your way. We are dealing with high winds today, they're probably headed your way also.

Sounds like your Martins are making their way back, they know a good landlord when they see one. I have two ASY males here so far. I keep hoping for more, but this weather is definitely holding things up.

Hanover Bill.

[ToyinPA]

Hi Toy;

We were lucky over here, no severe weather, but I figured you guys were in for it over your way. We are dealing with high winds today, they're probably headed your way also.

Sounds like your Martins are making their way back, they know a good landlord when they see one. I have two ASY males here so far. I keep hoping for more, but this weather is definitely holding things up.

Hanover Bill.

Bill:
We had high winds today as well. Flags straight out most of the day.

I now have 7 ASY Males & 1 ASY Female. A 2nd female visited again today, but did not stay. She has come 4 days in a row now. She looks light colored in the chest, young. Still haven't gotten a good ID on her yet.

As of this date April 21:
2012: 7 ASY Males, 4 ASY Females (first arrived MArch 29)
2013: 6 ASY Males, 1 ASY Female (first arrived April 10)
2014: 4 ASY Males, 2 ASY Females (first arrived April 2)

Their arrival changes year by year due to the weather it seems. Most seem to come during or right after a major storm & soon after a very warm day early in the season.

Cleaned out 3 HS nests today. Starlings were in those cavities yesterday stealing the HS nesting materials.

Flipped crickets just before dark. Weather thru early May looks like I may be flipping daily.

Hope you get more soon. They are on their way .

Toy in PA

[Ron Alsop]

Hi Toy/Bill, I just watched the weather report for the remainder of the week--wow, only in the 50's all week and lows in the 30's. Old man winter just refuses to give up. Glad to see you folks getting martins. The earliest I have ever had them was last year on 4/27.