Well this is my second year attracting martins, and it's been a great one thus far. Last year, I had an ASY pair, and three SY pairs for a total of four pairs. During the off season, I added two new gourd racks and a Goliad Jr. house, plus I put up electric fence predator guards on all the poles. My goal this year was to hopefully get 15 pairs, but I surpassed that pretty quickly!
By the first week of April, I already had nine ASY pairs. Then towards the end of April, the SY's started showing up and holy cow, it seemed as though my pair numbers double in like a week. By the third week of May, I had 11 ASY pairs (or for sure 11 ASY males) and 20 SY pairs, for a total of 31 pairs! So far, I've had 5 nest fledge, and there are 15 or 16 nest that are all due to fledge within four or five days of each other, starting any day now! My youngest chicks are 5 days old (five chicks) and 7 days old (six chicks). plus a nest of four eggs that are due to hatch next Monday or Tuesday.
There were definitely some interesting things happen this year. There were seven SY pairs that added virtually no new nest material to their chosen nest. They simply added a few green leaves and started laying. They then just quit after one or two eggs and never even started incubating. I caught this pretty quickly, and actually fostered these egg into other nests that had pairs still laying. I fostered 11 eggs total, and 9 of these eggs hatched. Interestingly, these seven pairs then started proper nest building, and three of these pairs (the ones I described above with the young chicks and eggs) successfully re-nested. I think it just got too late for the other four pairs and they just hang around now defending their gourds.
So, I have 35 available cavities and 31 total pairs, with 27 pairs successfully nesting. I'm beyond happy with my increases from last year. I never thought it possible to make such a big jump from one year to the next!
Also, I think there's a reason why my numbers jumped so much, but I'm going to try to post that on a thread posted by Brad Biddle a few months back if I can find it.
I hope everyone else had a great year.
Fantastic year with huge increases!
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TravisF
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Sun May 26, 2019 4:37 pm
- Location: Missouri
- Martin Colony History: 2018 1 SY pair, were not successful in nesting
2019 4 pairs. Learned the hard way the importance of predator/pest control. Lost a few eggs to sparrows and lost an entire nest of babies to a black snake. Stepped up sparrow control and installed electric snake guards. Fledged 12
2020 35 cavities offered. 31 pairs with 27 pairs nesting. Fledged 113
2021 69 cavities offered. Another big jump with 61 pairs nesting. Totaled 291 eggs and fledged 274. Almost all the losses were from capped eggs with two chicks dying in the nest from unknown causes. Plan to have 113 cavities available in 2022.
2022 Offered 98 cavities. Jumped up to 83 nesting pairs. Had 3 nests with 7 eggs, and one nest with 8 eggs. 437 total eggs laid and fledged 411. Thought my last chicks had fledged August 14th, but noticed a martin entering a gourd a few times late August. Lowered housing and had 3 young martins probably 2 weeks old. Last fledging on Sept. 7.
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Dave Duit
- Posts: 2145
- Joined: Tue Nov 25, 2003 2:02 pm
- Location: Iowa / Nevada
- Martin Colony History: In 2024, 82 pair with 350 fledged youngsters. 110 total cavities available, 82 Troyer Horizontal gourds and a homemade PVC / metal 28 compartment unit, 1 fallout shelter. Hawk and owl guards included. Martin educator and speaker. President and founder of the Iowa Purple Martin Organization. Please visit Iowa Purple Martin Organization on Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1627283871068161 Emails send to [email protected]. Subject line include Iowa Purple Martin.
Hi Travis,
Congrats on the jump in numbers. Across the US I have heard there was a general increase in numbers at colonies. My colony went from 54 pair to 60 pair this year.
Congrats on the jump in numbers. Across the US I have heard there was a general increase in numbers at colonies. My colony went from 54 pair to 60 pair this year.
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Whippy
- Posts: 1023
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2017 11:15 pm
- Location: Plano, Texas
- Martin Colony History: See Signature
Definitely a good year.
I went from 4 pair last year to 15 pair this year. On top of the increase in pairs at my colony, I've been inundated with visitors all season. If everything holds through next year I may double up again.
Coolwhips
I went from 4 pair last year to 15 pair this year. On top of the increase in pairs at my colony, I've been inundated with visitors all season. If everything holds through next year I may double up again.
Coolwhips
2016 - many visitors
2017 - 1 pair, 3 fledged
2018- 2 pair, 12 fledged
2019 - 4 pair, 21 fledged
2020 - 15 pair, 67 fledged
2021 - 29 pair, 117 fledged
2022 - 35 pair, 130 fledged
2023 - 43 pair, 196 fledged
2017 - 1 pair, 3 fledged
2018- 2 pair, 12 fledged
2019 - 4 pair, 21 fledged
2020 - 15 pair, 67 fledged
2021 - 29 pair, 117 fledged
2022 - 35 pair, 130 fledged
2023 - 43 pair, 196 fledged