It Starts

Tallsilver · Sun Dec 29, 2019 2:28 pm

Scout posted in Louisiana!

C.C.Martins · Sun Dec 29, 2019 3:03 pm

Good good good

Dave Reynolds · Sun Dec 29, 2019 3:52 pm

.... You never know when or where.... But it’s sounds like the season has started here in North America... WoW..

Dave

mjfog · Sun Dec 29, 2019 4:22 pm

Hi Dave - One sighting of a single bird in south Louisiana and our martin community is off to the races! You can just feel the pulse rate elevating! I love it. Let the excitement begin! Have begun "pre-nesting" my gourds on the two erected colonies and am planning to raise my third, built and designed by me, this Wednesday. Will have two 24 gourd colonies and my original 6 gourd colony up for the 2020 season. 54 cavities to monitor weekly will keep me busy this season (if they're all occupied).
Your neighbor from Athens, Joe Burrow, is lightening it up for the LSU Tigers this year. One more victory and my Alma Mater will reign as National Champs. Geaux Tigers.

Anthony Neira · Sun Dec 29, 2019 5:19 pm

Ever seen the movie "It's s Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World " ?

Dave Reynolds · Sun Dec 29, 2019 6:20 pm

mjfog wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 29, 2019 4:22 pm
Hi Dave - One sighting of a single bird in south Louisiana and our martin community is off to the races! You can just feel the pulse rate elevating! I love it. Let the excitement begin! Have begun "pre-nesting" my gourds on the two erected colonies and am planning to raise my third, built and designed by me, this Wednesday. Will have two 24 gourd colonies and my original 6 gourd colony up for the 2020 season. 54 cavities to monitor weekly will keep me busy this season (if they're all occupied).
Your neighbor from Athens, Joe Burrow, is lightening it up for the LSU Tigers this year. One more victory and my Alma Mater will reign as National Champs. Geaux Tigers.

..
.

,,, Hey mjfog ,,, Sure is great to see that first Purple Dot, from up here in Little Hocking, Ohio.. Gets your blood moving and the excitement is now is full swing, even thorough our returners won’t be here until March ..

Joe Burrow did look good in the game.. Great passes and super receivers, Great to see a local boy from Athens, Ohio do good. Athens is only 20 minutes from here in Little Hocking, Ohio.. Hope he does well in the Championship Game..

Also Hope you have a great Martins season in 2020...

Dave

John Evans · Sun Dec 29, 2019 7:00 pm

Exciting times ahead.. just finished prenesting and getting the gourds hung below the house today.. Hope to have ours back late January early Feburary .

Good luck to all in 2020!!!!!!!!!!

John

brent · Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:17 pm

I'm south of where they were sighted. I haven't been looking since I didn't see my first one until mid January but I will be on the look out. Exciting news!!!

Keep you posted!

Brent

Geaux Tigers...fingers crossed for Saints.

Fuzzmeister · Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:43 pm

That’s awesome to see the first two dots on the map and it’s still 2019, I’m curious if they come in the new year when do they leave with there young?

brent · Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:21 pm

Fuzzeister,,

My birds usually arrive very late in January and early February. They're all gone by the end of July.

Brent

Fuzzmeister · Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:52 pm

Brent
Wow you landlords in the far south benefit more then the landlords in the north, our martins arrive in late April early may and last year my first house of martins were gone at the end of July as well, so you guys get to enjoy them 2 to 3 months longer then us northerners. I may have to move to Florida.

Anthony Neira · Mon Dec 30, 2019 12:40 am

My bad, Someone elsewhere thought these where older dates, Glad to see everything is current. Thanks PMCA, for the research & information .

Conrad Baker · Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:50 am

I have to admit I was totally surprised when I saw the two sightings posted already in Louisiana. Branch and Denham Springs are North West of me. I am more surprised that there haven't been any sightings yet in South Florida. I guess it's time to get the houses out of the attic and prepare for the arrivals.

edited 9:36 pm to add: Now I see Plant City and Melbourne, Florida each have a sighting reported.

PMDavid · Mon Dec 30, 2019 9:10 am

Hey guys, oh man these early birds have got me stoked already! Prenested 24 gourds Saturday,just have two trio’s left to nest. Will definitely get that done after work today. One of those birds is about eight days early and the other a month early,I wonder if that’s a real sign of early arrival to come for us all? Trying to remember how to post a pic,made four new deeep gourds and a special rack for them and wanted to show y’all but can’t make it work. I tried to down size the pic but can’t get the green bar to show up under “attachment”. Will keep trying though. Hope we all have a really successful season this year!

Spiderman · Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:40 am

Looks like Carolyn's Martins arrive a little earlier every year.

Good for her, looks like she has had a Colony for a long time and must take good care of them.

I bet she supplemental feeds the Martins at her site. It's South Louisiana but they can still have some cold, rainy days for extended periods of time.

Hopefully they will all be back soon and produce a lot of offspring!

phldave · Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:21 am

I wish we understood better what really stirs their blood to start moving north. I always believed it must have something to do with the position of the sun in the sky. Now this year, when they have started to show up already, weather patterns must play a much greater part in what gets them going. Global warming has got to be a part of this. The only positive I can see, is we will get to have them longer each year. We have still got to get a handle on GW, because the negative impacts are getting worse everyday. We all have to really start relentlessly bugging our members of congress, especially you folks on the coast, the water levels are starting to rise.

Conrad Baker · Mon Dec 30, 2019 1:28 pm

Not too sure about the global warming being part of their early movement. As far as water levels rising, not too sure about that either. I have been living on the coast for close to sixty years, and the levels have not risen. Maybe some coastal erosion, but waterfront property has not been overtaken by the rising waters. The waterline is still where it was when I used to go fishing as a teenager many years ago.
I doubt that Obama would have bought that $ 6 million dollar home on the beach if he thought the water was rising. Just sayin'

Spiderman · Tue Dec 31, 2019 8:58 am

If anything is a threat to the Martins today, I would saw the cutting of the Amazon rain forest for lumber would be the #1 concern.

Third world countries don't really consider wildlife unless it brings in a lot of tourist money. Most of them can't even stabilize their own economies.

Conrad Baker · Tue Dec 31, 2019 11:31 am

I agree Spiderman. Unfortunately, the third world countries are not worried about polluting the environment either. The restrictions posed upon the U.S. will have no effect on the atmosphere/ozone layer as long as the other Countries dump tons of waste, pollution, and hazardous compounds into the air and water. It will affect us here in the U.S. too. Kinda like having a "peeing area" in the corner of the swimming pool. It's not gonna work, and it will eventually affect everyone.