Status of Martins in Virginia

[cervey1]

Hi,

I live in Central Virginia and the Martins are still in the nest building stage. Is this the same for others in the area?

Thanks,

Dave

[cervey1]

I have 8 gourds, some have only two but others have many PMs in different stage of development. I'd like to count them but they are so close together in some cases they are hard to count. Is it okay to move them with my hand to count them?

Dave

[Jones4381]

1 pair here. 4 eggs with ASY Male/Female. Sitting for about 13-15 days here so should see hatching this week.

[glfriend]

Dave
I live in the Lynchburg area about a possible 1-1/2 drive from you. I had 36 eggs laid about 8 are soon to start fledging (according to chart) 7 are in early days of growth, 5 more just laid, 4 still to hatch& about 12 may not develop. But no more nest building going on. I had 7 pairs

Garry

[deancamp]

Yes it is alright to pick them up and move as need be.

[Ron Kingston]

Hope to see you at Lousia next week http://www.purplemartinfieldday.org/

[cervey1]

Thank you for the replies. I have 8 gourds and babies in all of them. Some of the gourds have mites. If I understood the literature its okay to take the babies out and swap the nest material with either pine straw/cedar shavings/regular straw. I could wipe down the gourds with wet rag too.

Also it is blazing hot, 90s. Is it okay to put ice in the gourds?

I changed the bedding to straw and cedar shavings; also rinsed the gourds with water. That was too stressful. What a commotion! I don't think it was worth it. Worse two birds flew off. I hope they can find their way back. Their first flights due to me having taken them out of their nests and then putting them back in. A third one was not ready to fly so I recovered that one and put it back in the gourd.

They are still freaking out. Normally they'd be home and roosting on the gourds. Could they be looking for the two lost ones?

In a week or so they will all be flying I would guess.

[cervey1]

It was an abundant season. All 8 gourds had babies in them. A couple of gourds had 5 and one 6, one as few as three. Unfortunately, the day of the swapping of nesting material and counting the Martins a neighbor showed up and started talking non-stop. My helper and I lost count of the number of Martins. The best guess is between 30 and 40. There were no Martin deaths in the gourds. Also changing the bedding and wiping down the gourds got rid of the mites. So hopefully their last weeks were more comfortable.

There are only 4 Martins hanging around still. They were still eggs when the others were hatched and had some size to them. The rest of the Martins seem to have flown away already. I went to the Red Wing Roots Festival this weekend, came back and they were gone. Lowered the gourds and just the four, not quite ready for the long flight, were resting in their gourd.

I miss watching them fly around and perch on the gourds already.

[cervey1]

My bad. There are a lot of them still here. They are leaving the gourds earlier in the morning and coming back later in the evening. Possibly due to the heat, it's been in the 90s here lately.

[suem]

I am in Fluvanna County and most of mine have left! A few late ones but had full occupancy. Now looking for good radar to find roosting sites.

[Jones4381]

Day 27 of 3 chicks. Still in natural gourd. 6-10 visitors spend the day with parents trying to get them to join them in the sky.

[Jones4381]

My 1 pair with 3 chicks fledged this morning 7/16/21 28 days after hatching. Wondering if I'll see the young ones come back into the gourd over next few nights or if they are gone. Glad to have expierienced this success during year 2.