My first pair....and....drama.......Virginia

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Rediwill
Posts: 52
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2016 12:06 pm
Location: fredericksburg, va
Martin Colony History: 2016 6/1 Pole put up late due to HOA . Had visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2017 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2018 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed.
2019 3/1 visitor birds but no pairs that stayed. Brothers Martins didn’t show up at all at his pole 10 miles away.
2020 7/30 Had 3 pairs, 1st- 5 eggs/ 2nd hatched 2 fledged, 2nd - 5 eggs/ 2-5 hatched fledging. 3rd formed late July and no nest built.
2021 3/1 no pairs returned. One lone male hung out few days then left. Weather was bad.
2022 6/1 one pair all four eggs that hatched fledged. I’ve had 6-8 visitors.
2023 6/15 Eleven pairs 4-6 babies per nest. 51 babies total hatched. Will start fledging July 4th until end of July. I am in total shock.....Wow

Update 7/16

Covid and Corona laid 5 eggs in two nests. Three in main and two below it. I consolidated the two below. Marked shell with small dot. 2 eggs hatched. Two babies fledged today by 9am. They did come back down to the pole briefly to perch and one sat on the top of my house preening. I hear they normally stay within 2km on a pole or other perch and return in the evenings for a few days.

The second pairs' babies are about 10 days behind and they have 5 eggs and uknown number of babies but I am hoping 3-5 hatched. I wasn’t able to get hatched count as I didn’t want to disturb the first pair but I know there is at least two as I have seen their heads at entrance hole. I’ll try to get counts as fledgings return to nest in evening if possible

I do have a third pair but they didn't show any nest building and they formed just a week ago and I feel its probably too late for them. It is good to have two more martins around to spot threats. I had a solo male for awhile that was a little drama maker for the other two pairs but he finally attracted a female but a little late I think but you never know..

First hawk incident happened around 10am. Cooper’s hawk was flying block or two from my house when the Martin went after it. 4-5 martins chased it and dived at it aggressively. They did end up chasing it right at the colony pole by mistake I think and it dived to escape few feet from me and into a tree behind my house. It must of flew low and from tree to tree to escape the area. I could hear mocking birds yelling about the intruder as well in the tree. I did a video of it but it’s so fast it’s hard to follow. I did slow the video down and snapped a still from the video. It’s pretty cool to see hawk diving and in frame two martins in chase.
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