Major Increase In Purple Martins

[Steve Kroenke]

Yesterday and today, February 24 and 25, we have seen a major increase in the number of purple martins in both our personal colonies, mine and my neighbor Bob in northwest Louisiana. Right now it looks like we may have 100+ martins all together in our colonies. Of course, impossible to count!

The early male martins are trying to dominate multiple cavities and fighting hard to keep other males out. And the early females are doing the same with other females. I am already seeing martins falling to the ground and fighting. Other vicious battles inside the gourds!

March is the main month for the return of the ASY martins in our colonies. So we are getting ready for the incoming purple martin tsunami!

As more martins arrive I'll post updates for our colonies.

Steve

[Whippy]

You're killing me.

I haven't seen a Martin anywhere yet this year and I get reports all around me. I've altered my routes to and from work to pass by all of the Martin houses I know of and have not seen theirs yet.

Winds are very favorable for Louisiana right now. They'll keep coming.

Thanks for the report. It's good to hear.

Coolwhips.

[James Strickland FL]

Steve we are about 2 weeks away from having Martins here in Northern NC. We are going to be cold for a few days starting on Thursday and lasting until Sunday. The weather looks great starting next week and we may see some around my area then. I have had 6 Tree Swallows show up and that means the Martins are close. I am glad that your numbers are starting to climb and I am sure that you will be full again this year. Keep us posted buddy.

[PMDavid]

Hey whippey ,I’ve got a repeating Martin trap set to the specific weight to catch only martins. I created and newly innovated a transparent bait box for holding meal worms and live crickets,works great! I’ll loan it to ya and tell ya the specific route to use when slipping into Steve’s yard so bob don’t bust you.set it and forget it .......retrieve it right after morning social time and wha lah.......martins!

[Whippy]

Hey whippey ,I’ve got a repeating Martin trap set to the specific weight to catch only martins. I created and newly innovated a transparent bait box for holding meal worms and live crickets,works great! I’ll loan it to ya and tell ya the specific route to use when slipping into Steve’s yard so bob don’t bust you.set it and forget it .......retrieve it right after morning social time and wha lah.......martins!

I've been following your success with that very enviously. I may take you up on your offer if things don't change soon. I just hope the Martins can handle the truck ride from Louisiana to Texas. Maybe they'll be up for stopping for a few beers and crickets to break up the long trip.

I'll be in touch.

Coolwhips.

[PMDavid]

Cool whip soak the meal worms in bud light and they’ll eat em like candy and be quiet the whole trip. Poor ole Steve is catching it trying to keep all his martins. I’ve been there, now your going ,man what’s next? I bet he waits a bit longer next season to let the cat outa the bag about his birds back already!

[PMDavid]

Mr. Steve....I also fianally got some of my birds back. I had five about over the weekend and three of those have stayed . Then today when I got home there were around ten in the air. When roost time came they all came here and two or three ended up going down to the neighbors ,probably his first ones back . So I think I have around eight now ,really happy to see them returning! With all the new ones reaching the coast I may very well see more tomorrow. We’ll see. Good luck and stay in touch. You do know I’m just pickin at ya bout the trap as I see you as mentor and friend,you’ve advised me several times along the way over the last couple of years ,along with others and I thank you.

[Whippy]

...You do know I’m just pickin at ya bout the trap...

What!?!?!?!?!?

It's not real? I had my route picked out and my truck loaded and ready to go. Was looking forward to beer and crickets.

Guess I'll stay home and wait.

Coolwhips.

[PMDavid]

Hey whippy...... oh yea man it’s real. I was just insinuating that “I” personally may not be back with it,our little gig is still on. If you need it we’ll get it to you! You got a new to you house to fill up don’t you? You just let me know .

[Whippy]

Ok, PMDave.

I'll call you if I need to resort to such drastic measures.

I'll have to rig up a gourd so when I get my new PM's home Ill be able to lock them in until they become acclimated. I'll set up a watering device and make a hole to shove crickets through. Every Friday I'll treat them to Bud Light soaked crickets. That should keep them around once I open up the doors. Maybe they'll be too drunk to fly away. May be on to something here.

[Spiderman]

Morning Steve, glad you & Bob's Colony are doing so well. You have and Established Colony with someone that takes care of them for sure. Hope You have a Great season and few predators this year.

We had 15 Martins come in last night. 40 degrees this morning with a low of 28 tonight. Big north wind at 30mph coming thru right now. Even in these cool conditions they are still trying to move north to make it back to their Homes. Soon we will have too many to count coming in, in the afternoons.

I have killed 7 Starlings so far. The Martins really enjoy hanging out on the racks when there aren't any Starlings pestering them.

[Steve Kroenke]

Our purple martins are doing fine and the last few days of cold weather didn't seem to bother them at all. In the upper 20s this morning but lots of sunshine today, February 27 and the high should be in the mid-50s. Martins are catching bugs including crane flies which are flying low to the ground.

In spite of the cold weather, it appears even more martins have arrived and the fighting between martins has been fierce. I have watched multiple fights between martins that continued on the ground. This is most dangerous as wintering Accipiter hawks and merlins are in our area and they will definitely attack these martins.

The other day we had three "visits" from three Grim Reapers: an immature and real small male sharp-shinned hawk, a mature female sharp-shinned hawk, and an immature female Cooper's hawk. The sharp-shinned hawks all tried to dine on plastic martin decoys but failed to eat one! The Cooper's hawk decided to go after cardinals in Bob's yard where we feed birds. She literally tore into a wild plum tree and shrubs around Bob's house and I thought she had committed suicide! The cardinals kept getting deeper in the bushes and managed to stay out of reach of her talons as she tried to get through the branches. I finally chased her out of our yards!

I have tried several times to count the martins when they swarm above our colonies but it is impossible! I do know that all 17 of my systems, 15 gourd racks and two Trendsetters, now all have multiple martins in each of them.

I am seeing hardly any starlings so far and the last one I shot was back in January. I have caught six starlings in traps earlier. We have a minor starling problem and I have been able to control the starlings through trapping/shooting since I started my current colony in 2005.

My good friend Johnny Gerber called me today and said martins are arriving at his super colony in north central Louisiana in larger numbers now. I gave Johnny two of my 12 room Trendsetters and 24 Troyer Horizontal gourds on three inch square aluminum poles. Both poles can hold 12 gourds each. He said martins are already moving into the new systems. He has replaced all of his wooden T-14s with aluminum Trendsetters. Johnny probably has the largest personal martin colony in his area and he does a great job of managing his colony. He protects his colony from rat snakes with net traps and shoots any starlings that try to move in.

We should have warmer weather in the near future and that March martin tsunami is no doubt build south of us! We should have many more martins arriving in the next few weeks!

Steve

[PMDavid]

Mr Steve ,I’m up to four pair so far and expect more soon . That friend of yours ,is somewhere in the vicinity of Clarence,la.? Last Saturday on our motorcycle ride we passed a mans house out in the country cutting across towards Clarence and his whole front yard was full of Martin houses,could that have been him?

[Steve Kroenke]

David,

Johnny lives in Quitman, LA, not too far from Jonesboro. All his gourd racks/houses are in his front yard. Kinda looks like my front yard!

You should be getting more martins any day now. If we get some south winds, the flood gate should open with martins!

On the subject of cold weather...

I have seen our martins catching flying insects when the temps are in the low to mid-40s, particularly with sunny skies and little wind. The sun can warm up the ground and some insects can be activated and start flying at low levels. We have many open pastures in our area with cattle and this is an ideal environment for insects. Martins can skim over ponds, lakes, and rivers during during cold weather and sometimes find some flying insects.

Today I watch martins flying almost at ground level around our yards catching crane flies and the temperature was in the mid-40s with an even lower wind chill. The martins would even fly to the ground and catch crane flies clinging to grass. Crane flies look like giant mosquitoes and are rather hardy critters.

It is cold cloudy weather with rain/snow/wind that can be really deadly to martins after about 3 days. Few if any flying insects may be available. Martins can starve under those conditions.

Martins can handle cold nights and have been doing so for thousands of years as they migrated north from South America to North America. Our martins have experienced temps in the low 20s before at night/early mornings and did fine. As long as the temps warm up later in the day for insects to fly, then the martins can find food. It is mainly the lack of food rather than the cold that is so deadly to martins.

I'll be watching our martin colonies closely this evening to see what the martin numbers look like!

Steve

[PMDavid]

Steve all the martins at my house this morning just jumped out all frisky and ready . I have the naturals with pine straw pre nesting so they faired well . I was glad to see it. This is still just my second year so I still have a few curves to learn more on. Those four new gourds I posted earlier in the year... they have right off took to two of those and investigating the other two. I full well expect as soon as some more show up they’ll claim those also. Looks like we have some south winds and warm days ahead so I’m with ya on the gate should really open and I’m excited and full of anticipation to see if my colony of 7 or last season increases.. best of luck .David.

[PMDavid]

I forgot the subject at hand Steve......on our ride and the guy with all the houses. No I wasn’t ur friend ,we weren’t anywhere near Jonesboro. We were let’s say about 6-8 miles south of black lake at campfire. But this cat must have had 20+ houses in the front of his house. I doubt I could find it again,we were just cruising through the country side and not too sure of exactly where we were. Then coming back along cane river we passed one of those gazillion dollar homes with brick and iron fence that had about 8 trendsetters or something large like that spaced around the perimeter of his yard,pretty cool. When I get out on my bike and just ride it’s surprising the quantity of Martin colonies you see in a day..lots out in the middle of nowhere.

[Steve Kroenke]

David,

It looks like our March Purple Martin Tsunami is about to roar in! Today, February 28 more martins have arrived and I have enjoyed watching the returning ASY males go directly to the gourd racks/houses they most likely nested in last season.

These males show confidence and start entering cavities, but they still must face the wrath of any dominant ASY male that has already taken over those cavities. Knock down drag out fights are occurring as males fall to the ground locked in battle! If the new males are equally aggressive and "stand up" to the dominant male, then they have a good chance of re-claiming their old nest site. The dominant male will still have his old territory but can't control everything.

I watched two ASY males return to one of my K24 gourd racks with 24 Troyer Horizontal Gourds with tunnels/porches. There is one extremely dominant male with a female and they were trying to control the entire gourd rack! Well these two new males didn't fly several thousand miles from South America all the way to northwest Louisiana to let a bully keep them from their old cavities. What a battle and the two new males secured their old cavities back!

I expect a lot more of this type of behavior as more returning martins try to re-claim their previous territories that are being controlled by other martins. There will be a "whole lotta fighting going on"!

Good migrating weather will be occurring over the new few days and your martin numbers will hopefully increase!

There are probably a good number of a large purple martin colonies, particularly in the Deep South, that few people know about. Many martin landlords probably don't go online to martin websites with forums and share information about their colonies. About two miles down the road from our colonies is another well managed and protected colony and the landlord uses good quality gourds and has several Trendsetters. I know the landlord and we have visited each other's colonies. But I don't think he posts on any martin forums or Facebook.

Steve

[Rodger Drye]

Hey Steve,

Glad to hear you’re already off to a good start with the 2020 season. Haven’t seen any Martin’s around here yet, but I am ready. Still trapping Starlings however, with the number trapped setting at eleven. I have two friends who live about 15 miles from me who have already spotted Purple Martin’s. Thought I’d see some by now as it looks like they are coming in early this year, but not so as of yet.
Had to take my Nitro-D Rack down and take it apart. The plastic sheets that lined the interior of the hub began to swell and the metal flat head bolts began to stick. It was stuck about 1/3rd of the way down and would not go up or down. I wish now I’d have bought a Hub from Andrew Troyer and initially installed it. That’s what trying to cut corners and save $$ gets you. I got the plastic strips out and will put it back up with Aluminum against Aluminum. Next year I will cut out this inferior hub and weld in a new hub with glide buttons in it. I guess you have to iron out the kinks of any new design. I suppose that’s why they call it a prototype.
All my gourd’s are up and pre-nested. My T-14 is trimmed and ready to be installed onto the pole, just waiting till a warmer day and a day when it does’t rain. We’ve had a tremendous amount of rain this year so far.

Good Luck with your Colony and keep us informed...

Rodger

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Rodger,

Today, February 29 the winds shifted to the south and the temperature was in the low 70s. Good weather for purple martins to migrate north.

Our martin numbers have increased more and we are are well over a hundred martins between both colonies, mine and Bob's site. Lots of fighting today between martins!

Starlings have been nonexistent at both our colonies for some time now. But we usually have a few to trap or shoot during March and April.

Had two Accipiter hawk attacks today. A Cooper's hawk dived down on my colony but all the martins had fled and she only got a feet full of plastic martin decoy! Another smaller Accipiter probably a sharp-shinned hawk hit one of my martin decoys just before the martins came in to roost. So both attacks were failures.

Martins are moving north and the south winds may send one to your colony any day now.

We use the Troyer hubs on all our "quad" systems on three inch square aluminum poles each with four six room aluminum houses on crossbars. The plastic glide buttons on the older hubs have deteriorated on my gourd racks. Troyer now has better quality glide buttons with UV inhibitors on the newer hubs. You can replace the glide buttons but I believe you have to remove the hub from the pole to install them! What a hassle! There has to be a better way because I just can't take all those hubs off the poles! I am studying this situation and seeing what can be done.

In your case, will the aluminum against aluminum create any issues with lowering/raising the rack? On several of my old hubs with missing glide buttons, the hubs will raise and lower but just not as smoothly as they would with the plastic glide buttons.

I hope you get your first martins soon. Please let us know!

Steve

[James Strickland FL]

Hi Steve and great to here that your colony and Bob's are off to a great start. As too the subject of they finding food during cold spells, I have had Martins under different weather types. I have TS here for about a week now and the weather has been cold. They are doing well and I am sure that the Martins will be here in about a week or two and I am sure we will have some cold spells during March here in NC. I have never had any to die from the cold. They seem to fine food to keep them going. As we know that the cold is not what kills them, but the lack of a food source. Birds get there warm is from food intake.

I have seen where the birds that I have here are starting to look for nesting sites. The Finches are looking and the Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, and others are looking. It going to be nice with rain, but warm next week. I think that the Bluebirds will start taking nest material into there houses next week. I have all of the gourds and houses up with prenest material installed. I have a few gourds open just in case some show. I do have some gourds that can be put up if all is taken and the SY's need some housing. I will let you know when they show up here. Take Care my friend.