Is playing the dawn song in the morning associated with Temp or is it just based off of the sunrise time? Do the PMs fly up and sing the dawn song regardless of the temp being above 48 when bugs would fly? Should I play the dawn song in the rain? Does that matter? Does the urge to find a mate even make them fly up in the rain and when its cold? I just want to make sure I am playing it when it makes sense. I am in a suburbs so I want to play it only when needed as to not drive anyone to reporting me.
Seems all my PM visitors have been after 10am so far and possibly due to the weather warming up to about 56 at that time. It is very cold here in Va at predawn hours 40s most of the time or very low 50s. So, since it is pre dawn hours that you play the dawn song would the martins hear the song in the dark...or twilight and then wait until the sun rises to check out the site? Not sure how their vision is in the dark. Just want to separate the feeding behavior from the dawn song behavior and see what factors impact both. Sunrise is about 6am here so I would assume that playing the song at 5am would be fine until around 10am. I do get visitor(s) almost daily around 10am to noon and maybe 4pm but so far I haven't had both a male and female at the same time. I did have one sub adult arrive a week ago and hang out for like 30 mins and check out all the holes and preen his feathers but then he was off. He did check out a gourd with a mirror and jumped off the porch flapping his wings and went to a different gourd. I am hoping for a bigger wave over the next 10 days as the weather gets better. Seems to me the ones so far have been on their way north and just stopping by.
I did have 12 gourds only on my pole but I added a house and more perches just to cover those martins that might prefer a house to a gourd until I get a colony established. Same day I put up the house I had my first visitor this year. So, that seems to be a good move.
The colonies I saw around me so far have all been the green and white aluminum hexagon houses unmodified with round holes. I know I have four colonies nearby(within 8 miles) but only saw two with birds so far when I have driven by...but those birds may of been feeding and away from the houses. All had round holes. I only have SREH type holes and glad I do due to starlings.
Shane
Dawn Song question and still wondering where all the subs are :)
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Rediwill
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2016 12:06 pm
- Location: fredericksburg, va
- Martin Colony History: 2016 6/1 Pole put up late due to HOA . Had visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2017 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2018 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2019 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed. Brothers Martins didn’t show up at all at his pole 10 miles away.
2020 7/30 Had 3 pairs, 1st- 5 eggs/ 2nd hatched 2 fledged, 2nd - 5 eggs/ 2-5 hatched fledging. 3rd formed late July and no nest built.
2021 3/1 no pairs returned. One lone male hung out few days then left. Weather was bad.
2022 6/1 one pair all four eggs that hatched fledged. I’ve had 6-8 visitors.
2023 6/15 Eleven pairs 4-6 babies per nest. 51 babies total hatched. Will start fledging July 4th until end of July. I am in total shock.....Wow
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MRV
- Posts: 27
- Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 8:10 pm
- Location: Illinois
- Martin Colony History: previous landlord at former location ,recently purchased new property ,housing is up !
From what you are saying , I think you are in pretty good shape...how is your site as far as flyways and trees ?...the hard part of this endeavor seems to me is the predator count , these extremely smart little acrobats know I guess by exploring the area what kind of threat exists,primarily owls...I know I have lots of them talking to each other here.
In regards to dawn song and daytime chatter , I have both disc , to be honest I have drawn birds with either disc no matter what time a day.
Best of luck !
Steve
In regards to dawn song and daytime chatter , I have both disc , to be honest I have drawn birds with either disc no matter what time a day.
Best of luck !
Steve
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Rediwill
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2016 12:06 pm
- Location: fredericksburg, va
- Martin Colony History: 2016 6/1 Pole put up late due to HOA . Had visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2017 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2018 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2019 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed. Brothers Martins didn’t show up at all at his pole 10 miles away.
2020 7/30 Had 3 pairs, 1st- 5 eggs/ 2nd hatched 2 fledged, 2nd - 5 eggs/ 2-5 hatched fledging. 3rd formed late July and no nest built.
2021 3/1 no pairs returned. One lone male hung out few days then left. Weather was bad.
2022 6/1 one pair all four eggs that hatched fledged. I’ve had 6-8 visitors.
2023 6/15 Eleven pairs 4-6 babies per nest. 51 babies total hatched. Will start fledging July 4th until end of July. I am in total shock.....Wow
I have pretty decent flyways for my location in the suburbs. They seem to have no big issues flying in and landing on the pole and gourds. Sometimes it takes them a few passes to get the approach right. I did remove a tree to give them the entire front 180 Degrees flyways as open. So, from the south side they have nothing to block them out to about 100 feet or more. My house is 40 feet off the north east side and I do not think they can come in that way. The north side is mostly open and half of the east side is open out to about 75 feet. They can come on for sure north and south and land. Pretty much like an aircraft carrier with a bigger deck.
I haven't seen or heard owls here but there are hawks. I did have a bird feeder in the front yard and it had one hit by a peregrine hawk. The red tailed hawks seem to be to big and they see them coming. I have seen two robins bodies around my yard in the past two summers from hawks. I am on the edge of the country so there are pairs of hawks flying around with the buzzards. In my yard the grackles chase away most crows and hawks pretty quickly and mob them. I have seen my step brothers martins chase off hawks as well and he is about 15 miles from me near a river.
My main question was if I should play the dawn song during rain or cold weather or wait for higher temps 50 or so before playing it? Do the males fly up regardless of the temps or if it is clear or not?
Shane
I haven't seen or heard owls here but there are hawks. I did have a bird feeder in the front yard and it had one hit by a peregrine hawk. The red tailed hawks seem to be to big and they see them coming. I have seen two robins bodies around my yard in the past two summers from hawks. I am on the edge of the country so there are pairs of hawks flying around with the buzzards. In my yard the grackles chase away most crows and hawks pretty quickly and mob them. I have seen my step brothers martins chase off hawks as well and he is about 15 miles from me near a river.
My main question was if I should play the dawn song during rain or cold weather or wait for higher temps 50 or so before playing it? Do the males fly up regardless of the temps or if it is clear or not?
Shane
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MRV
- Posts: 27
- Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 8:10 pm
- Location: Illinois
- Martin Colony History: previous landlord at former location ,recently purchased new property ,housing is up !
well below fifty is a problem because there is little bug activity , I used to have a horn type pa speaker on top of a perch pole...I have seen a sub adult male set and sing back to that horn..lol....I would not play it in the cold...I play the dawn song for a couple hours right now , then shut it down
I havent had any activity yet except what I believe is two adult colonized birds....
Steve
I havent had any activity yet except what I believe is two adult colonized birds....
Steve
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John Miller
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:11 pm
- Location: St. Louis, MO
What Steve said. Unless late night temps are mild - probably 50 or above - martins will be holed up and inactive. Don't put tomato plants out either until night temps are above 50, generally after Mother's Day in Missouri - ha.
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Martinfarmer
- Posts: 153
- Joined: Sun May 07, 2017 6:33 pm
- Location: Guthrie KY 42234
- Martin Colony History: 2015 put up a S-k house, visitors but no takers
2016 homemade Martin condo (40 nesting boxes) several visitors no takers
2017 changed crescent openings to Troyer Conley 2 openings and installed 4 super gourds with Conley2 adapters and 12 vertical Troyers.
Several nests and eggs. Hopefully will exceed one hundred eggs this year.
6-21-17 nest inspection 68 chicks and 26 eggs
6-30-17 inspection 90 chicks and a new nest with 4 eggs.
8-30-17 successfully fledged over 85 martins.
I bought a cheap WM CD player . I put it on the repeat loop and play daytime chatter 24hrs non stop. I was concerned it would bother the martins, but they go to bed every night right after sun down. Day time chatter cd has worked great to get the Martins to investigate. Now the martins that are staying go out and bring more martins in.
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taxidermy lady
- Posts: 2988
- Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:21 am
- Location: IL/Ellis Grove
- Martin Colony History: Started trying to attract purple martins in 2012! It's finally happened in 2017! 5 years!!! ASY male and SY female came May 1st, fledged 5 babies!
If you have martins spending the night I would not play it at night! OWLS can hear very good and come eat your martins! Just my thought! No need for cd's after you get a Martin at your site! The martins do a fabulous job attracting their own kind!!! Good luck!!!Martinfarmer wrote:I bought a cheap WM CD player . I put it on the repeat loop and play daytime chatter 24hrs non stop. I was concerned it would bother the martins, but they go to bed every night right after sun down. Day time chatter cd has worked great to get the Martins to investigate. Now the martins that are staying go out and bring more martins in.
Sharon from southern Illinois