While observing the Colony at Glynwood Farm in Cold Spring NY yesterday I twice witnessed an adult male, or might have been different birds, dropping and catching
a dragonfly. Both times after the third brilliant catch it just let it drop and flew to the top of the house. It was lots of fun to watch. I just wonder why it would waste the catch, nether eating it nor feeding it to young. I haven't noticed the behavior before. Anyone else witness this ?
Curios Behavior
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malachy cleary
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2004 8:01 pm
- Location: cold spring n.y.
- Martin Colony History: First breeding pair in 2011. Site moved up hill 350 feet at beginning of nesting season
2019 to accommodate road construction.
Colony seems to have weathered the upheaval
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malachy cleary
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2004 8:01 pm
- Location: cold spring n.y.
- Martin Colony History: First breeding pair in 2011. Site moved up hill 350 feet at beginning of nesting season
2019 to accommodate road construction.
Colony seems to have weathered the upheaval
Misspelled Curious
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marcus
- Posts: 314
- Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 10:21 pm
- Location: Fairland OK
- Martin Colony History: Mom n Dad had a plastic 12 unit martin house with some martins as long as I can remember. In 2013 they had 1 pair. I don't think they fledged any. I then started learning how to take care of martins and in 2014 we took that house down and put up a Troyer 18 gourd rack. We had 7 pair with 28 fledged.That summer I built a T-14 (I was only 12). I was also given 4 natural gourds that I hung beneath the T-14. In 2015, we had 23 pair although only 22 pair fledged young. They fledged 88 young. In 2016, we had 36 pair, 210 eggs, 163 hatched, 149 fledge!! One pair fledged 2 broods. In 2017, I had 36 pair with 35 fledging young. They laid 204 eggs, hatched 155, and fledged 152.
A friend believes that they suck the innards out of the dragon flies and that is what they eat. Do you think that is what was happening?
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malachy cleary
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2004 8:01 pm
- Location: cold spring n.y.
- Martin Colony History: First breeding pair in 2011. Site moved up hill 350 feet at beginning of nesting season
2019 to accommodate road construction.
Colony seems to have weathered the upheaval
Could be, although when I retrieve the braginflied their seems to be meat left
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stan davison
- Posts: 715
- Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2005 7:48 pm
- Location: Tulsa Oklahoma
I believe they drop the dragonfly to see if it is still alive and if it is they fly around with it until it's dead then feed the young.