Purple Martin Update…July 1, 2019

[Steve Kroenke]

Purple Martin Update…July 1, 2019

Our purple martin season in northwest Louisiana is coming to an end and it has been a good one for us. I had reported in an earlier post I had attracted about 340 pairs of martins this season. Well it looks like a few more martin pairs have established themselves since that report. At least five more pairs are on eggs or have recent hatchlings: two ASY pairs and three SY pairs. So around 345 martin pairs in my colony this year. Whether those late pairs with eggs will actually complete the nesting cycle remains to be seen. Their eggs probably would not hatch until near mid-July and that would extremely rare for our colonies this late in the season.

Most of the martins have fledged their young and there are still pairs getting ready to do so. Well over a thousand martin fledglings have flown from my colony and when Bob’s, my next door neighbor, colony is factored in we probably have between 1500 and 2000 fledglings this season.

Our resident Cooper’s hawks have taken some martin fledglings and I have so far recorded at least 26 observed kills by a large mature female hawk. I am sure I will observe more kills before the season ends. All these kills have been several hundred yards AWAY from our colonies. The hawk grabs the fledglings from tree tops, off power lines and when they are flying around the area. There is NO escape when the hawk is after one! We probably lose over a 100 martin fledglings each season to Cooper’s hawks.

I hope everyone has had or is having a successful martin season in 2019!

[Spiderman]

I'm glad you had a Good Year, Steve. You have produce an amazing number of Fledglings that will return to nest all over Texas and Louisiana.

I know it is a tremendous amount of work. Preparing the nests for the Martins arrival and cleaning everything back up after they have gone. I can't imagine where you store all of those gourds for the off season.

[Steve Kroenke]

It is a lot of work to manage such a large purple martin colony. But the results are worth it and I will try to continue as long as I can.

Bob and I also have several satellite martin colonies in northwest Louisiana and these have had a good season so far, too. Lots of fledglings produced!

I'm already thinking about next season and some of the changes. Will be going "all gourds" in 2020!

[Donnie Hurdt MN]

Hi Steve, it is good to hear from you again! Glad all is well with all your martin colonies.
As for me and my neighbors colonies not so good this year. Numbers are down at both sites due to a late cold spring I haven't seen many martins at all at my site this year either. Two other houses that I have up are completely empty this year too. I am thinking that this years migration was hard on them too. We will see what happens next spring.

[Steve Kroenke]

Donnie,
Good to hear from you, too! So sorry your martin colony and your neighbor's site are down this year. Our weather in April and May was rather cool, wet and stormy at times but the martins pulled through. I didn't notice any weather related losses. When martins migrate farther north during adverse weather conditions, no doubt the losses can be significant. We southern landlords usually don't have the weather related issues that folks farther north have. Hopefully next spring your colonies will rebound!

[flyin-lowe]

Steve
I can't remember if you've shown before or not, but do you have any pictures of your storage for all your gourds. I am assuming it is quite a site keeping all those gourds stored in the off season..... It takes me an afternoon to get my small colony down and cleaned up each winter, can't imagine what you and Bob go through.

[Steve Kroenke]

I have included two photos of how I stored my gourds one year. I actually bought a special metal building for that purpose. But as usual, when the gourds are out, other "things" start to appear in my building and now it has mainly "other things" in it! I will probably need to buy another building just for my gourds. In 2018, I put all my gourds under my carport and covered them with a tarp. Worked OK. Bob doesn't take his gourds down and store them. I lower my Trendsetters but don't store them.