HELP! Martin Colony Abandoned in Louisiana, Missouri

[LindaP]

I just witnessed the most horrific scene!! Dead and dying baby martins thrown to the ground when their dilapidated homes blew off the base. The house were full of babies, eggs, and a couple of fledglings ready to fly. Parents were flying overhead unable to comprehend where their babies were or their house. Some still sat on the base in shock.

The City of Louisiana put up 4 homemade martin houses about 2-3 years ago. I noticed earlier this year they were in disrepair. But thought the maintenance department would take care of it. I don't live in this river town but come by for dinner on occasion and love to watch the Martins.

When I saw the devastation I grabbed a plastic shoe box without the lid and began picking up the living ones and placed them in the box not knowing what to do next. I realized that it's against the law for me to try to rehab birds who would need to be fed every 2 hours. I am totally unprepared and have read enough to know I could kill them with the wrong food so I took them in the box to the highest place I could reach on a platform hoping the parents could find and feed them. Most won't make it through the night. There are predators who will kill and eat them and I left them alone and confused.

Everything is closed and there are no rehabbers in this area. I am just sick that I'm unable to help them. I don't know any martin landlords in my area. I'm about 20+ miles away. If I could reach the other 2 houses I would place the babies into houses with martins of similar age. I'm so sad and angry. Angry that the city put up these houses and had no plan to maintain them. Ignorant people! Sorry.

I'm so frustrated that so many people want to put up martin houses and don't protect the martins or remove the sparrows and starlings. I always discourage people from putting up martin houses that I see won't manage their houses. I have fought for years to keep my small Trio house for martins but am always overwhelmed with sparrows from the neighbors the minute I open one compartment. This year a had 3 pairs but the sparrows finally drove them out. I bought plans for a controller house and will build it and have it up by the fall. I can start eliminating the sparrow problem over the fall and winter. Thank you. I appreciate any advice you offer.

Just another bird lover,

Linda Pridgeon
573-784-9996
Frankford, MO

[Dave Duit]

Hi Linda,
The best bet for the nestlings survival would be to erect a make shift pole or something to raise the house off the ground. Try to place the old house close to where it was originally located with the entrances facing the original directions. Try to place the nestlings back into their compartments to the best of your memory. The parents are much better at feeding their young than we are, unless you reach a rehab person soon. I wish you the best possible outcome. Keep us posted.

[Kellye]

Hi so um i know that it will take a little while to put up the make shift box so that the parents will feed them. To keep them alive feed them meal worms (i hope that your not to squeamish ). And cut them in half with scissors. rub the back of the baby's neck. And that usually gets them to open their mouth and you put the worm in their mouth. I hope this helps.


This is what i do when baby's fall behind their siblings.

[ToyinPA]

Linda:

Bless you for trying to help those poor chicks. Shame on the city for allowing this to happen.

The only thing I can think of is to call the local newspaper, tell them what happened, & ask them to find & send help ASAP. Maybe a radio station could put a call out to help.

I tried to find a rehabber, near the area, but no luck. All I found was to call the city offices for a listing. Maybe a Martin landlord in MO will see your post & step up to help.

Parents feed up to dark & then start again soon after day break. Those chicks can make it several hours without food, over night, but being exposed to the elements, especially sun, will cause them to dehydrate quickly, not to mention make them prey.

Sadly I doubt any will make it unless they are rescued, before too many hours pass, after day break. They would need to be put into nests with chicks their age or taken to a rehab place that handles song birds.

Again thank you for trying to help.

Toy in PA

[LindaP]

I can't bring myself to go back down there without someone to help me get the houses on poles. I know they didn't survive the night if the adults couldn't find and feed them.

If I could reach them I would anchor them with liquid nails or strips of wood. I need someone with a ladder. I only have a sedan and can't fit a ladder in my car. We're all busy but God has a way of pulling us back to what's important from time to time. This is very important to me.

Louisiana is a river town so I'm wondering if there are individuals in Illinois not too far from this town on the Mississippi. This morning I spoke with someone at City Hall (they answered 'Water Dept'). The lady said some 'group' put the PM houses up and the City doesn't do anything about them. I totally agreed and have offered my support to maintain the colony if they will find out which group (kiwanis, or whatever) is responsible for erecting them. I'm hoping to get funding for gourds for at least 50 martins or more. I will work on that through a local garden club to start the process of purchasing gourds and poles.

I raised mealworms so working with thousands of the squirming buggers doesn't bother me in the least as far as feeding orphaned birds. What I need is support of local birders which seems very fragmented in this area. There are so many PM houses in disrepair in this area so at one time the Purple Martin movement was strong.

Thanks for all your support. I knew you could give me some hope. I still can't post the pictures I took.

Warmly,
Linda Pridgeon

[Matt F.]

I tried to find a rehabber, near the area, but no luck. All I found was to call the city offices for a listing. Maybe a Martin landlord in MO will see your post & step up to help.

Me too Toy.
I was scouring the listed rehabbers last night, and too noticed the void of listed rehabbers in that area of eastern Missouri and the adjacent area in western Illinois.

Linda,
Like Toy said, bless you for coming to the rescue of those baby Martins!

[LindaP]

We have managed to rescue 7 PMs and restore the house with liquid nails and some screws to attempt to hold the rotting house together. We had over 20 PMs chattering and flying overhead as we were working on the putting together this broken house. As we placed it on the base and secured it as best we could tying it down with a bungee cord until they have fledged, the parents rushed inside to their babies. Sadly most weren't there as they had been killed. But it was a joyful moment to see how they had been watching us, depending upon humans to help them.

The babies we left in the box overnight had been fed by their parents. We have no way to know if all will survive, but they are survivors. I couldn't post a picture that I so wanted you to see.

Plans are to work with the landlords of a vacant lot next to this colony. The colony is built on railroad right of way. They have already removed the one pole that no longer housed a house so I don't think our colony is welcomed by the RR and won't want us to rebuild. But somewhere close by we will build. I want gourds and think they are the best option. The garden club I belong to may fund us or the district garden club which includes the Northeast Missouri area. I have a lot to do and hope for some good advice about building at public areas like the waterfront. Thanks.

Linda Pridgeon

[Matt F.]

Amazing work Linda!
Those baby Martins will be flying down to South America soon, thanks completely to you.
Absolutely amazing, awesome work!

[Rodger Drye]

LindaP,
Very sad story. Yes your best bet is to somehow get a house back in the air and get those babies back in cavities. This way the parents can feed and take care of them..!!
Next would be to find a rehabber with experience in this type of situation.
I have fed baby bird's Meal Worms and Crickets, depending on their ( the baby bird's ) size.?.? Cut meal worms in half for the small ones. If you feed live Crickets which are the best be sure their heads are mashed.!! You can feed frozen - dead - thawed out Crickets, but these are not as nourisable as the live ones.
Rodger

P.S. I will be glad to contribute towards the purchase of a new pole and or Gourd's or House.! It would probably be best to go back with the same type House so as not to confuse your Adult Bird's.!!
RD

[daltonmissouri]

Just curious, Linda, how do you go about eliminating the sparrow problem in the winter?
Sorry I can't held you much with your dilemma, but I'm a relatively new martin person and I don't have all the knowledge like other posters.
But I do have a lot of problems with sparrows nesting in my martin compartments, and if I can do something about those little pests during the winter, I would like to know just how that can be accomplished.

[John Miller]

Linda
I received a Facebook email about this a few days ago from Mona Brown, via Linda and John Harmon in nearby Clarksville Mo., whom I've consulted to help set up a colony years ago. I don't have funding, but I have worked around the area consulting to help establish colonies. You may know, we have a thriving colony in gourds on the riverfront in Clarksville.

I told Mona that I also have a slide program about martins that has been well received at various places around Missouri, including several Missouri Department of Conservation Visitor Centers, and I'd be happy to come to Louisiana perhaps this fall or early next year...and give the program to try to generate interest. Let me know. I also mailed Mona the PMCA information booklet about martins, and I compiled a page of suggested martin house vendors that I have used.

FYI - there is an excellent rehab facility in Overland Mo., (north St. Louis metro) called Wild Bird Rehab.

My initial thought was to appeal for some donated Trio houses to place back on the platforms (which seemed to be standing in a photo I saw), securely bolted. Hopefully someone capable will step forward to oversee or take care of it. While that would be pretty feasible -- sometimes people have older Trio aluminum housing to give away -- you also are correct that martins do well in gourds.

Dalton...it's helpful to plug the housing entrances in winter with foam plugs cut from "pool noodles" or take the housing inside and not open or put back up until martins arrive in spring.

John Miller, volunteer, colonies in Forest Park and Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis
[email protected] 314 781 2525

[daltonmissouri]

John, that's what we do every winter until the martins arrive; all of the holes are covered until then. But when the martins get here in late March, the sparrows compete for the boxes that we have opened. I saw where someone talked about using those sticky mouse traps to catch them, and I was thinking about using those until the martins arrive, since the sparrows try to nest earlier before they get here----maybe I could eliminate most of them before the martins get here that way?

[John Miller]

Dalton

I'd use extreme caution with glue traps. In Perryville, a martin could arrive in late Feb, enter and get killed. You could try to shim the holes of a cavity with a trap, down to 1 1/4 or just under 1 1/2 or so to keep martins out.

While it's possible for a very few martins to arrive late Feb., I think you may be opening the housing a little too soon..or maybe just open a few holes for early arriving martins to find shelter. If there is other housing in the area for them to find shelter, you could try just not opening until April. Also consider one of the cavity traps sold the PMCA...they work well in most housing, but like glue traps, I like to make a shim to keep martins out.

Every site is a little different and what works at one location may need to be fine tuned at another. John

[ToyinPA]

John, that's what we do every winter until the martins arrive; all of the holes are covered until then. But when the martins get here in late March, the sparrows compete for the boxes that we have opened. I saw where someone talked about using those sticky mouse traps to catch them, and I was thinking about using those until the martins arrive, since the sparrows try to nest earlier before they get here----maybe I could eliminate most of them before the martins get here that way?

If you decide to use the sticky mouse traps you must make the entrance holes too small for a martin to enter. You certainly don't want to have a martin stuck fast to one.

We used 1 1/4 inch round hole (not sure if 1 1/8 would be too small) cut in a piece of 1/8 inch thick luan wood & attached (screwed) it to the opening. Cardboard may work too, but it would need to be secured well. Then we cut the sticky trap in half, placed it in the cavity & added some nesting materials around both sides & the back. You need to watch the house like a hawk & remove the caught bird ASAP. If the HS is nest building it would be the ideal time to do this. Remove the nest, place the sticky trap in the same cavity, add a little nesting material around the edges & back area & then wait. Only took 10 minutes for us to catch one nasty male HS, after days of trying to trap or shoot him failed. Once they get stuck they can't get loose.

I doubt you could use the sticky trap over again, as the bird is stuck fast & other stuff is now stuck on it as well. I think we bought the pack that had 4 sticky traps in. Cut in half you'd have 8 traps.

We only use this method in situations where we have a very aggressive Male HS that avoids all other traps, can't shoot him because he takes off as soon as he sees any movement from a door or window, etc. They learn real quick to watch you like a hawk & take off. Makes it hard to catch them.

Toy in PA

[LindaP]

Linda, thanks for your excellent advice and info about Clarksville, John Miller. We belong to the Garden Club in Clarksville although we don't live nearby. I will look for the colony when I attend the next meeting.

The difficulty with the poles at this site is the houses cannot be lowered for nest checks, cleaning, or HOSP removal (no sparrows because of the overwhelming numbers of PMs). Also it's at a public place so it's difficult to get a ladder that tall to manage the houses and I have no truck. I've been in touch with our NE MO district and may get a start on funding through them. I need a minimum capacity of 50 compartments to put up the same amount. I have a Trio and it leaks like a sieve. Not pleased with it but see it everywhere. That's another subject but gourds are more and more attractive. I understand a local lady grows the natural gourds and she is an option if she can cut the clean-out hole and install a cap. Her price may be more reasonable, but my choice is to use the manufactured gourds and I like the Troyer tunnel. I would love your information about other places to purchase gourds and setup. You're right that there are plenty of used Trio houses. I see abandoned ones and it makes me sad whenever I see one. That is another reason this reestablishment of this colony is so important. We cannot turn our backs on these PMs.

I would love for you to give a talk in Pike County in the future. I never signed on to be a PM advocate but realized I had no choice when no one in Louisiana stepped up to help. I promised myself I would not abandon them as I stood around the dead and wounded birds.

I have a contact with the railroad for permission to work on their right of way. He's hard to reach but hoping he will grant us the right since it's an established colony. I am also contacting a bird expert, Kathi Moore, with the Conservation Dept in MO. I hope to get help through her involvement. She is speaking to our group in September.

Many thanks... Linda Pridgeon
///

I received a Facebook email about this a few days ago from Mona Brown, via Linda and John Harmon in nearby Clarksville Mo., whom I've consulted to help set up a colony years ago. I don't have funding, but I have worked around the area consulting to help establish colonies. You may know, we have a thriving colony in gourds on the riverfront in Clarksville.

I told Mona that I also have a slide program about martins that has been well received at various places around Missouri, including several Missouri Department of Conservation Visitor Centers, and I'd be happy to come to Louisiana perhaps this fall or early next year...and give the program to try to generate interest. Let me know. I also mailed Mona the PMCA information booklet about martins, and I compiled a page of suggested martin house vendors that I have used.

FYI - there is an excellent rehab facility in Overland Mo., (north St. Louis metro) called Wild Bird Rehab.

My initial thought was to appeal for some donated Trio houses to place back on the platforms (which seemed to be standing in a photo I saw), securely bolted. Hopefully someone capable will step forward to oversee or take care of it. While that would be pretty feasible -- sometimes people have older Trio aluminum housing to give away -- you also are correct that martins do well in gourds.

Dalton...it's helpful to plug the housing entrances in winter with foam plugs cut from "pool noodles" or take the housing inside and not open or put back up until martins arrive in spring.

John Miller, volunteer, colonies in Forest Park and Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis
[email protected] 314 781 2525

[LindaP]

Just curious, Linda, how do you go about eliminating the sparrow problem in the winter?
Sorry I can't held you much with your dilemma, but I'm a relatively new martin person and I don't have all the knowledge like other posters.
But I do have a lot of problems with sparrows nesting in my martin compartments, and if I can do something about those little pests during the winter, I would like to know just how that can be accomplished.

Dalton, eliminating sparrows from your martin house in winter is just setting sparrow traps to remove the house sparrows. I have a Trio house with expanded compartments so I use the Spare-O-Door. But once they're gone you plug the entrance holes and sparrows can't get in. Problem solved until the Martins return. I just bought plans to build a nifty Troyer S&S Controller nest-box trap that will protect the martin colony every day. I will have it in place by spring or earlier. If I can put it up in the fall I'll continue capturing them all winter long. I put up a roosting box one year and the sparrows wintered over in it. I don't even use it any longer. I'll never let them do that in one of my houses.
We're all new to some part of birding and I wish you great success. --Linda

[Matt F.]

It definitely warrants repeating what a wonderful thing you did for those baby Martins Linda!
Are these the houses where this took place?
Click here to view

[taxidermy lady]

It definitely warrants repeating what a wonderful thing you did for those baby Martins Linda!
Are these the houses where this took place?
Click here to view

Matt if this is the right location, this has to be a flood plain! I can't tell how high the wall is but when the river stages are read on the national weather radio Louisiana Mo.is mentioned! This is the Mississippi River in the picture! Our water levels were high this spring and can play havoc on houses and martins! Martins like water but not at the bottom of their house! Maybe they need relocated somewhere else! The street name is Water St. A Martin house should not be near the Mississippi River!

Thank you Linda for all your doing to help them! Good luck!

[LindaP]

It definitely warrants repeating what a wonderful thing you did for those baby Martins Linda!
Are these the houses where this took place?
Click here to view

Linda says: Yes Matt! That's a good picture of the location. The water does get high here but not to the bottom of the Martin houses I don't believe. Living along the Mississippi there is always spring flooding. It may not be the ideal location but so far I know the lot behind the tracks is owned by a man who only wants a revenue producing business located in the empty lot. It would be perfect, but not a possibility.
However, I have the support of the Mayor and the Railroad Master who is in charge of this area. They have offered me their bucket truck and someone to work on the houses putting them up or removing the old ones. The houses will be in the same location. It is all a flood plain so strong poles are in order as was mentioned about the flooding. I thought of installing 3" poles with a winch and worm thingy in a concrete base so we can access the martins for clean out and to do nest checks. the 1st pole should house 2 12-compartment houses plus 4-5 gourds on one pole. That only takes care of half the colony. Another suggestion was made to look into some abandoned Trio houses and use them. I'm unsure about that but open to researching.
Martins should be all along the Mississippi because they love the water and there are tons of bugs. It's always nice to have martin houses installed above the water line. But there are a host of problems getting access.
I've been given some excellent local contacts of organizations and committees who also want to beautify the waterfront. Of course the railroad is very concerned about that. But the town is already using that area for events where there are vendors and a ton of people who are likely climbing on the railway structures. I'd like to ask the railroad to install a nice fence to enclose the area you see to keep people off the electrical equipment. It would also make the houses more secure. Thanks so much for your input. --Linda

Matt if this is the right location, this has to be a flood plain! I can't tell how high the wall is but when the river stages are read on the national weather radio Louisiana Mo.is mentioned! This is the Mississippi River in the picture! Our water levels were high this spring and can play havoc on houses and martins! Martins like water but not at the bottom of their house! Maybe they need relocated somewhere else! The street name is Water St. A Martin house should not be near the Mississippi River!

Thank you Linda for all your doing to help them! Good luck!