Larry Kronemeyer wrote:Loran
I am not an expert on martins. I cull whatever information I can off of this website and from the people who share their knowledge and insights on this forum.
I live in Illinois. I, too, have only two birds here. This time last year I had six. But I expected this. Last year my scout was lost to an injury and my second early male disappeared during nesting time, probably due to a hawk, no way to say for sure. They were both older males and they ruled the site for a number of years. I'm assuming they were the same older returning scouts because they returned to the same compartments, came in about the same day each year and knew my signal for supplemental feeling. So let's say they were the same old timers. Well, they didn't survive last year. Therefore I never expected them to show up this year and the number of early arrivals would be changed. I'm sure there is a flaw in that logic somewhere
I had a great deal of hawk pressure toward the end of last year's nesting season. However most of the early martins were long gone by then. Still could be a factor though.
This spring weather has made it another difficult migration year for our marins. That could also be a factor.
So, I'm not going to panic (yet!) . Time will tell.
Hang in there.
Judy
Thank you for your reply. See my reply to Louise Chambers. Not giving up at all. I and my colony will survive! I have to agree with you regarding the spring migration. Our weather pattern has been very strange and I am sure our martins have an instinct within that helps guide and direct them accordingly. Sorry to hear of your hawk issues and martin injury. I have experienced the same issue a couple times over the years. Thanks again for your post. Happy martining this season!
Martin Colony History: I have had my martin colony on the dam of one of my ponds for nine years. The colony has grown each year, but I am now concentrating on helping friends and acquaintances who have shown interests in martins. My colony consists of three T-14's with 8 Troyer gourds attatched to each T-14, a Troyer gourd rack with 12 gourds, and another gourd rack with 18 Troyer gourds for a total of 96 nest cavities. I am having serious predation issues with hawks and owls and am experimenting with various hawk guards and "screens". Established successful supplemental feeding the last few seasons and have had a blast flipping mostly meal worms and some crickets. Faculty from Ohio University are using my colony as a research site to study parasites that target cavity nesting birds. In exchange for access to my bird trail nest boxes and martin housing, they are banding all birds involved in their study.
Okies and Sooners, we are seeing some of the same issues in southern Ohio with very few birds compared to arrival date history. Trying to stay positive, but it sure seems that something bad is going on!
Martin Colony History: 2016 Informed landlord now Have 2 pair returning from 2015 That is a miracle. Hoping for a very successful year, sparrow population on decline. First house was plastic with crescent holes Had martins within a few days. Ignorant landlord gradually lost them Then got Trio House and still lost most of them. Lots of sparrows
I agree Mike. Wonder if the PMCA or other bird experts could do some investigations to see if something happened "down south". It would behove us to know. My guys anniversary has come & gone & I still have not spotted even one. Going to check the colonies around me today to see if they have any.
This makes it even more imperative to eliminate as many threats as possible.
Okie
PMCA member
2016 Started with 2 pair, 1 pair abandoned after HOSP destroyed eggs
1 pair= 6 eggs, 6 fledged
2017 1 pair so far, But they abandoned before nest complete for ?reason? Now Bridless and joined the Wannabes
2018 One pair ASY male SY female 5 eggs, 5 fledged
I live in East Texas below you and our Martins have been arriving late this year. I try not to worry, they have arrived late in years past but when the SY's arrive we always have more Martins than we can provide housing for.
Good Luck with your Martins, a couple of weeks can make a huge difference in the number of Martins at your Colony!
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.
Martin Colony History: 2016 Informed landlord now Have 2 pair returning from 2015 That is a miracle. Hoping for a very successful year, sparrow population on decline. First house was plastic with crescent holes Had martins within a few days. Ignorant landlord gradually lost them Then got Trio House and still lost most of them. Lots of sparrows
MRcus you have 20??? Glad your colony is thriving. Whoppee
I still have not seen even one.
I am becoming convinced my guy has not survived and I'm starting from scratch. Deeply depending on those SYs. Hurry up birds.
At last a sign....good sign/bad sign. The sparrows are now interested in the Trio. Caught 2 yesterday. Maybe Martin's will start arriving now.
Okie
PMCA member
2016 Started with 2 pair, 1 pair abandoned after HOSP destroyed eggs
1 pair= 6 eggs, 6 fledged
2017 1 pair so far, But they abandoned before nest complete for ?reason? Now Bridless and joined the Wannabes
2018 One pair ASY male SY female 5 eggs, 5 fledged
Martin Colony History: 2015-put up the house, as is, and no takers. 2016-Modified the house for larger rooms, added two gourds, and played the dawn song daily. First pair arrived! 5 eggs, all hatched, but only 4 babies remain. None have fledged yet, but any day now!! Update: 3 out of 5 babies made it to fledgling! All flew off!
Last night we had 3 adult males and 1 female flying around our PM house around 6:30 last night. One of the dark males swooped down like he was going to land on the house, but would pull up at the last second. He finally settled on the power line a little further back. He sat there for 5 or so minutes while the other martins flew off. Then he finally took off. I didn't see him or any of the others return to the house last night. However, this morning around 7:30 there was a dark male sitting on one of the porches of the house. Since last year was our first year with martins I'm not as acquainted with whether or not this martin is ours, but I'm hoping if he's there again tonight that maybe it is our martin returning. I hope this means the martins are finally getting up here, so hang tight fellow Okies, we may just be having a slow migration. Fingers crossed!
Martin Colony History: 2016 Informed landlord now Have 2 pair returning from 2015 That is a miracle. Hoping for a very successful year, sparrow population on decline. First house was plastic with crescent holes Had martins within a few days. Ignorant landlord gradually lost them Then got Trio House and still lost most of them. Lots of sparrows
That's great news. So glad your place is painted purple.
They showed up at my site today too. 3 ASY males. Been in & out all day. We'll see if they stay the night.
I talked to PMCA & they encouraged me to report on the scout report. Be sure you do that.
Okie
PMCA member
2016 Started with 2 pair, 1 pair abandoned after HOSP destroyed eggs
1 pair= 6 eggs, 6 fledged
2017 1 pair so far, But they abandoned before nest complete for ?reason? Now Bridless and joined the Wannabes
2018 One pair ASY male SY female 5 eggs, 5 fledged
Loran/Okie etc. Greetings from Ohio Update I visited a well established landlord in Amanda, Ohio last week. He said they have 100 rooms on some various poles, Trio Doubles on telo pole, single trio, gourd racks etc. No martins last week and we contacted him today with feedback report. He saw the first adult about March 31St. Just had about 5 arrive around April 4, 2017. Note he has about `100 rooms mostly full up etc. in a country location with houses being between the house and barn. This location is Amanda, Ohio between Circleville and Lancaster, Oh. just South to SE of Columbus, Oh. hope this offers some happy thoughts that perhaps weather delayed the birds etc. keep positive and let's hope this cold spell leaves us in good shape by this Saturday with warm weather again. John (foxie)
