Help with dead adult martin, 3 live babies

[cnevett27]

HI guys, it wouldn't be a normal day if I didn't have a crisis in "martin world." This afternoon I was conducting my checks and found a dead (M) martin in the nest with the 3 babies-all fine. The bird did not appear to have any external damage, good weight. I uploaded pictures. Don't mean to be gross. I took out the bird and cleaned the house, put the babies back in. They were born around 6/5-6/7. They appeared ok. Afterwards, a lighter bird, grey belly (guess the female) looked in, took out a fecal sac and then started bringing in food. She has made at least 6 trips in the 45 minutes I watched. My questions are: Can this one bird take care of the 3 remaining babies? I have other birds born at similar times I could divide up if need be. Should I monitor the babies' weight to know if they are being fed adequately? This is the first time I have had to deal with one parent raising the babies. Who else has experience with this. I saw the bird bring in a big dragonfly, so feeding is going on. What about the dead bird? Natural causes. My first thought was HOPS, but none have been around for a while at the gourds. Plus the babies were good. Any advice is appreciated. Cindy
P.S. I did check the bird the night before, so this "crisis" happened today.
Tried to upload pictures but did not work.

[Martinfarmer]

Thanks for posting, he has beautiful plumage. So far I haven't lost any adults,but I have lost one chick. It appears as if it just didn't get fed.

[Mhoover]

It sounds like the female is well on her way to taking care of the 3 chicks. Sort of keep an eye on her just in case something might happen to her.

[ToyinPA]

HI guys, it wouldn't be a normal day if I didn't have a crisis in "martin world." This afternoon I was conducting my checks and found a dead (M) martin in the nest with the 3 babies-all fine. The bird did not appear to have any external damage, good weight. I uploaded pictures. Don't mean to be gross. I took out the bird and cleaned the house, put the babies back in. They were born around 6/5-6/7. They appeared ok. Afterwards, a lighter bird, grey belly (guess the female) looked in, took out a fecal sac and then started bringing in food. She has made at least 6 trips in the 45 minutes I watched. My questions are: Can this one bird take care of the 3 remaining babies? I have other birds born at similar times I could divide up if need be. Should I monitor the babies' weight to know if they are being fed adequately? This is the first time I have had to deal with one parent raising the babies. Who else has experience with this. I saw the bird bring in a big dragonfly, so feeding is going on. What about the dead bird? Natural causes. My first thought was HOPS, but none have been around for a while at the gourds. Plus the babies were good. Any advice is appreciated. Cindy
P.S. I did check the bird the night before, so this "crisis" happened today.
Tried to upload pictures but did not work.

Cindy:
I would guess he died of natural causes. Some times it's old age, or could be he had a heart attack. Sometimes they zip in so fast they whack their head & knock themselves out for good. I had that happen to a female a few years back. She came in so fast she hit the edge of the opening & that ended her.

The female should be able to care for the chicks, but she will be busy. You could move one chick to a nest that has the same age chicks & has both parents feeding well. That would ease things up a bit for her. Supplemental feeding (crickets or meal worms) may help to lessen her trips for food. During nest checks keep an eye on the abdomen. It should be full & fat with no wrinkling. If it looks wrinkled they are not getting enough food & are dehydrating. After a few days they will become too weak to eat. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Toy in PA

[Don Troha]

Sorry to hear about the loss of the male. Similar situation here. Male disappeared at about day 20. Female was able to keep her clutch of four well-fed until about day 29 when all four fledged. Then one of the fledglings got displaced from the group before learning to catch bugs and feed itself. By the time I figured out that the bird was in trouble it was too late & I couldn't get it to the rehabber in time to save it.

So, from the time she lost her mate until fledge the single mom was able to keep all four babies fed. But after the birds fledged she wasn't able to keep the group together to teach them how to feed themselves with the result of one of the four being lost. Just something to watch for. Even if they survive long enough to fledge, they are not out of the woods yet until they've learned how to take care of themselves. Good luck.

[Bcorbs1217]

Don, where did you find the displaced fledgling? I'm wondering if I need to make sure and check all the gourds when they fledge.

[Don Troha]

Don, where did you find the displaced fledgling? I'm wondering if I need to make sure and check all the gourds when they fledge.

This was probably the last of the four to fledge & wandered to some of the other cavities looking for its mom. Then maybe couldn't find it's way back to it's home cavity or by that time mom was already gone with the other fledglings. I've seen this happen before where a single female takes her fledglings away from the nest as soon as they can fly and doesn't return because the other adult birds are harassing them. Anyway this fledgling stayed at the housing and was flying fine and appeared to be okay. Then I noticed it was perched in front of an unoccupied cavity and becoming less active. I moved the fledging back to it's home cavity but it's mom did not come back for it, and unfortunately I was not able to get it to rehab in time to save it.

If you have a situation like this with a single parent, it might be a good idea to check all the cavities including the empty ones after fledge to look for any lost fledglings.

[Bcorbs1217]

Thank you, Don. I'll do that. Sorry for your lost fledgling.

[phldave]

Hard to say what happened, maybe some how he gave his life protecting his family. I hope mom is able to carry on and fledge the young. Be thankful for what you have.