I’m growing in numbers

jhcox · Fri May 10, 2019 7:54 pm

Started this year with I think my matriarch pair. I was hoping to double the one pair I had from last year but the Lord has seen fit to give me about 10 or 12 maybe more Martins this year. Not sure how many pairs I actually have but I have 6 or seven nest with leaves in them. So hopefully I’ll have some eggs next week or so. Thanks for all the help over the years everyone. JHCox Heiskell TN

Fuzzmeister · Fri May 10, 2019 8:33 pm

Congrats awesome feeling I went through it last year, it was my first year and I had 12 pair it was a blessing to sit on my deck and watch them go through the stages of nest building and raising there young. You will find that the bigger your colony gets the more fun they are to watch cheers.

randyM · Sat May 11, 2019 12:22 am

I went from 1 pair, to 4 pairs, to 10 pairs, and this year I have 36 individuals so far and the subbies have not even begun to arrived yet. It was a very long wait for me, but I think this colony is here to stay. It certainly is a joy to watch a colony grow! You should expect your colony to really grow next year, given you have enough rooms for everyone! Congratulations!!

DonnaG · Sat May 11, 2019 6:54 am

I currently have about 17 prs and last nest check I have 75 eggs~~~~~ Been having an exisiting colony about 4 yrs!!! miss them when they are a gone and love having them around~~~~~~

flyin-lowe · Sat May 11, 2019 7:24 am

Being your in TN I wouldn't be surprised if you don't pick up some more SY's yet this year. The migration seems to be a little slower this year to me. I was expecting to have more SY's by now, hopefully they will be here soon.

deancamp · Sat May 11, 2019 8:05 am

That's great, waiting to see what my end result will be when the sy birds get into full swing.

rrmartins · Sat May 11, 2019 8:06 am

Great news!!

detioh11 · Sat May 11, 2019 8:15 am

I had one pair in 2016 none in 2017 and one again in 2018. It looks like I have 3 pair spending the nights and just starting to think about near building in central Michigan. It is really cool to have 6 birds around. It feels like so many compared to 1 pair. Maybe I will get lucky and. They will draw in a SY pair. Hopefully my colony is underway now for good.

jhcox · Sat May 11, 2019 9:47 am

Ya it’s a great feeling to see them in larger numbers when I go out to work in the yard they go crazy darting and diving. And I hope they grow again next year or even this year because Tennessee so far is only showing 7 to 8 subadults on the migration map. As far as room to grow I have the 30 compartments now and last year a older gentleman gave me for nice racks and a feeder rack. He also gave me around 60 troyer horizantal gourds a few more super gourds and another style that I’m not sure what kind they are. So I have the potential for over 100 compartments. I probably won’t need them put up for a while until the 30 that I have get filled up. But I can hope that it will be sooner than later.

Spiderman · Sat May 11, 2019 9:58 am

When your young can fly and family groups start to disappear, you should really spend the effort to locate and go see a Community Roost in your area.

We all have small colonies but to see 10,000 to 20,000 Purple Martins flying in unison and spending the night in less than 10 trees is an unreal experience.

jhcox · Sat May 11, 2019 1:36 pm

I have no idea where a local roost is in the East Tennessee area.

Buckdog122 · Sun May 12, 2019 7:15 am

This is my second year and I had lots of visitors last year, and 4 days ago had an adult pair show along with another I can’t tell yet. Now there are 4. I’ve been waiting anxiously in the evenings to make sure that they return. Pretty exiting waking and seeing the action around the house. Good luck all
Buckdog

jhcox · Sun May 12, 2019 3:53 pm

Hey buckdog122 it sure is exciting to get up in the morning and see them zipping around. I think I’m up to 12 or 14 now and the more you get the better it is to sit and watch them.

Dave Duit · Mon May 13, 2019 9:02 am

It all starts with a few and then the sky is the limit for how many pair you can manage in a healthy manner.

jpp77 · Tue May 14, 2019 9:43 am

Same here. I had 16 Martins last year and to date this year, I have seen 24. Curious how many nests I end up with as they are building now.

jhcox · Tue May 14, 2019 6:11 pm

I seem to have way more nest building activity than I have actual Martins. Is that normal for them to build more than one nest?? I have had new green leaves for over a week. When should I expect to see some eggs??