Strong south winds

[PMDavid]

Does anyone look at windy.com? It shows the prevailing winds and has a daily scale you can click to look a few days ahead. For the last couple of days through Tuesday we have had strong winds outa the south. There has been a large number of new scout reports through the weekend and 7 so far today for louisiana. This trend should continue for the next few days......good luck fellow southerners they are really starting to flow in!

[MartinBro]

The wind gonna blow from the South, and help them martins out. Then the wind gonna blow from the North, and hold them martins back. Then a South wind gonna come and push them martins up. Then that North wind gonna push them martins back again. On and On and on till the martins show up same time as last year.

[brent]

Yes. Got some new ones today!

[PMDavid]

Martin bro you posted that same negative comment last year.......NEGATIVE ATTITUDE DUDE.

[SSMartin]

It sure is a nice thought about the wind helping them return. I am still sitting at 8 hoping the warmth and winds this week push more my way!

[Whippy]

Now we have North winds blowing all the way down to Guatemala.

Probably best to delay the Martins a bit to save them from any unfortunate flash dips in temperature. I did see several Texas landlords report their arrivals which were at least two weeks early over previous years. I hope they are doing well.

Coolwhips

[PMDavid]

Looks like the winds for Thursday and Friday are gonna stay northern until around midnight or so Friday night then turning again outa the south for a couple of days. I’m predicting and hoping to see some of my birds over the upcoming weekend or first few days of next week.

[Whippy]

It's looking kind of dangerous for the Martins. Strong winds out of the South all along Central America and across the Gulf of Mexico. If they are riding these winds to come home they will run into the strong North winds and deep cold at the border of Texas and along the coast into Louisiana.

Out of caution I went and looked in all of my gourds yesterday and a few minutes ago to make sure I didn't have any to take care of.

I hope they are patient enough to hang out in Mexico or slide over to the East a bit until it's safe to move into Texas and Louisiana.

Coolwhips

[Sharon - Central TX]

I’m with you Whippy. Today’s temps brought ice cycles hanging off my gourds. It is expected to get worse, especially on Monday with a low predicted of 6 degrees. I’m praying my martins hang back until next week when it warms up a bit. Some arrived on February 10 last year but I haven’t seen any so far this year. I’m a little stressed over this weather and the martins .

[Sharon - Central TX]

We had a bad day yesterday and last night with icy conditions which has damaged a lot of trees in our neighborhood. It also froze our poles, winches and gourds which have ice sickles hanging off of them. Wouldn’t you know it our first Martin showed up today and couldn’t get into a gourd due to the ice. Hubby tried to lower the gourds but there is about a 2” ice buildup on everything and frozen in place. Finally he found a pole long enough to clear the ice off of the entrance to two gourds we had opened. The Martin flew off once he went out there. I saw it fly to the lake that borders our property and it looked like he was getting some bugs off the surface. He hasn’t returned so I hope he found a warm place to stay.
The next few days we will once again have unusually cold weather with snow predicted. I was really hoping (and praying) the martins wouldn’t show up until it starts to warm up a little. I was very surprised to see this beautiful male show up in such frigid conditions.

[Whippy]

Sharon,

I have my gourds lowered expecting ice and snow. I'm wondering if I should raise them about half way in case one arrives during this mess like yours did. I want to be able to check the gourds so I guess I could raise them high enough for the Martins to use but keep them low enough to use a ladder to look in from time to time.

I think that's what I'll do.

Thanks for posting about your Martin arrival.

Coolwhips

[Sharon - Central TX]

Whippy that’s probably a good idea. Our weather will be getting even colder the next few days. My neighbor said she thought she saw a couple of martins two days ago. I didn’t.
If you can safely climb up on a ladder, go for it. We learned a hard lesson and probably should have lowered them some because the location of our poles prevents us from getting on a ladder. But we could lower them enough to use a long pole to knock the ice off all of them, not just a couple.