Help please: Desparate for Info about flying squirrels

[Jim Koenig]

A friend of mine is devastated: He started this season with a t-14 that was almost full of martins. He has another 10 hole house that was almost full too. The problem is that early in the season, eggs started disappearing regularly. Some nests had all of their eggs go missing. Later most of the nests that did hatch, appear to have been abandoned by their parents. Dead babies by the dozens. His site should have produced almost a hundred young, but now only 15 are left to fledge.

What took the eggs? What scared off the adults? His site is located on a lake shore in the heart of Purple Martin heaven in Avon Minnesota. Other nearby sites are experiencing nothing but maximum production this year.

I am an experience Martin landlord and believe me when I tell you that it's not Raccoons. They can't climb the poles. We don't have snakes. The cavities have Staring resistant entrances. The sparrows are mostly controlled.

What predator may be stealing eggs and frightening away the parents? Perhaps this is a clue: His site is shaded by a number of old white oaks. It is not possible to place his houses any significant distance from the trees. Therefore I do worry about Northern Flying Squirrels which are known to inhabit our area. My conclusion is based on the careful stealing of the eggs. It is also plausible that the flying squirrels invade the nests at night, scaring the adult into abandoning the nests.

Do any of you have experiencing dealing with this predator? I am worried that there is no way to control this predator if in fact it is a flying squirrel. You comments and suggestions are appreciated.

[warbird]

Raccoons in mo. Don't have any problem climbing metal poles. One time coon hunting the dogs run a coon in a shed at a school house [dutch] and the dogs got it out of the shed and the coon went up the metal flag pole and we got it. I don't know the fix for a flying squirrel but it's front legs can't be 2 inches long ,hard to get eggs. Especially out of crescent entrance . I would be watching out for coons

[KathyF]

I have to agree with warbird - Occam's Razor .... Sounds like either raccoons or snakes. Are there predator guards on the poles?

[birdbrat]

Jim, While I have to agree that the most common predator would be a coon or snake, I won't rule out your idea of flying squirrels. They are nocturnal which would scare parent birds at night, they will eat both bird eggs and small nestlings, they can fit through a 1 1/2 inch opening, and they live in colonies. That coupled with the placement of the martin colony in question, it could be any of the three predators. Maybe it would help if you would look to see if there are any chew marks on the doors. I would think even flying squirrels would chew a bit on the door if it is a tight fit. I hope whatever the problem is, you and your friend are able to solve the mystery. Brenda

[Forum Admin]

Jim, does the landlord have guards on the poles? It certainly sounds like raccoons, if not. What kind of poles does he have? A landlord in PA told us about being shocked one day when he saw a raccoon zip up his T14 pole so fast, it made his head spin. He had wondered why he was missing eggs and young - then he knew, once he saw it.

Flying squirrels will eat baby birds and eggs too - they'd either have to climb the pole or glide over from nearby trees. A pole baffle would stop squirrels AND raccoons.

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

The original story sounds just like raccoon or snake. A flying squirrel is so far from my thoughts that it would have to be documented by a game camera before I believed it.
KathyF's videos are so convincing of owl attacks that it is no question in my mind what happened at her colony.
Mark.

[Jim Koenig]

Thanks everyone for your input.

The reason I am dismissing raccoons as the primary cause for missing eggs/young is two fold: The T-14 is on top of a 3 1/2 rectangular steel pole. I have never heard of a raccoon climbing a pole like this. Second, and most importantly, raccoons create a mess. They ransack the nests taking whatever they can reach. However, our eggs go missing (one or two per night) and the rest of the nest is left undisturbed--completely untouched.

Further, we have no climbing snakes in Minnesota. And, Owls can't get into a T-14 and don't care about eggs.

Considering all of this, I'm still thinking flying squirrels. Has anyone found a way to control them?

[Forum Admin]

Raccoons can climb a metal pole that size with no problems at all. So raccoons are still a possible and likely cause of the losses. Any way a game cam could be set up to capture some photos of the culprit? If the landlord added a good predator guard and losses stopped, that would point to raccoon, and a guard would stop any squirrels that try to climb the pole. Can you get a photo of the house and site/location?

[~Ray~Gingerich]

You say there were dead babies by the dozen? This suggests something killed the parents, hawk, owl, snake or even racoon. MIssing eggs could be a house wren, have seen one toss out a dozen in just a few minutes.

[Spiderman]

We have a bird feeder less than 30' from our Martin houses. Every night we have 20 or so flying squirrels that go to the feeder at dusk to eat sunflower seeds. We don't have any problems with our Martin or eggs disappearing.

A raccoon can climb a round 2" steel pipe just fine, square pole would be easier. I would buy or borrow a live trap. Just add a slice of bread to the back of it and place the trap at the bottom of the pole.

You will be surprised how many raccoons are walking by that pole every night. Every once in awhile one will figure out the Martins are up there.

[gray fox]

I would try to do all of above methods first camera etc. Then if you know for sure it maybe just 1 squirrel. I killed a gray squirrel that was pulling of flowers. He was the only one.

[art]

Can you place a plastic sheet at the pole base with some fresh mud to see if any raccoon tracks appear next morning? A lot cheaper than a critter-cam.

[Dave Reynolds]

We had flying squirrels in your attic once,, We had to cut down a few close trees nears the house, block a few holes in the eaves... It helped.. When the squirrels did try to get to the house, they always jumped from the tall trees and flew "down" to the house,,, they never flew "up" to the house.. Hopefully you don't have any trees higher then your housing..

Dave