Purple flock question

[CTMartins]

So do Martins fly north in flocks and do 'drop offs" along the way or ...? Almost reminded of the Turtles riding the EAC current in Finding Nemo. "Here's my exit see ya in the fall"

[Whippy]

That's a good question and it reminded me of some things I saw last year.

In the evenings I go out and watch all the martins come into their gourds and on a few occasions there were a lot more Martins in the air than I knew I had in the gourds. So once my martins started to come in for the night, I noticed a small group of 15 to 20 head out to the north. This happened at least three times and each time that group had different numbers of birds. I wrote it up as birds passing through on their way to their northern homes and that they were just joining in the fun for a bit.

I have no idea if any dropped out of the groups and came home or if those groups left in their entirety.

Coolwhips

[C.C.Martins]

It is an interesting observation! I love the behavior style questions. Iv quite the intrest in why they do things and what are they doing.
They fly single. Id imagine a few travel together, seems they like company.

Like whippy says, seen martins come in but lots of other birds in addition come down. They don't generally stay, young birds yes, older birds not so much.
I think what you've observed are your resident martins intercepting migrants, and getting them to come down. Or trying to. At our satellite site, there are wide open spaces...last year we had one second year martin show first. He tried real hard to attract others, very vocal. It was slow at first,, he was a great advocate for our site...quite the salesman.
I was on a trail almost half mile off and got to see what you described at work. He was on his house and calling, took off way up high, as he got closer to me I can see he was calling to a group of 7 or 8 martins, he'd call and dive down to his home. They milled around for a bit, came down but eventually took off north. As the season progressed, and migration was in full swing, lots of martins take off from our colony and bring in big numbers of birds.
The older birds are focused, they know where they are going. Probably won't stay. Younger birds will be lured in by older birds who want to mate with anything that moves. They are more likely to stay.

[alfie]

I believe we saw about 10 sitting on the gourds at the Walmart in Bastrop Texas and a few flying around. We are going there again this morning for our weekly shopping so I'll see if they are still there. I don't know if there is a landlord at the Walmart or whoever takes care of that location. We have a BUNCH of visitors last year when they were leaving. Almost every day there would be 1 to 15 Martins stopping in. Some will check out the gourds. We only had 1 pair last year so I'm hoping the visitors will stay. We'll see.

[C.C.Martins]

Its a bit early for texas arrivals my friend. Jan 28-31st.
Also have it on very good authority since the cold snap last year wiped out most of the early arrivals they may be late for us.

[Conrad Baker]

Alfie, I agree with Tom that it's a little early for Texas, especially seeing as many as you reported. There would have been listings in the "sightings" for Texas if they were there already. They might have been swallows??

[John Barrow]

Sping, 2010, I published an article in PM Update (Vol. 19-2), entitled First Stop--USA, A look at Migration Along the Texas Coast. The complete article discusses the dynamics of migration and sets forth information pertinent to some of the questions concerning this year's migration
.
It is important to note that purple martin migration prior to mid Feb is insignificant in numbers. Here is an excerpt from my article:

"It has been observed, correctly so, that the PMCA’s scout arrival project is focused on tracking the first arrivals at different colonies in different parts of the country. It is not a timeline showing when landlords in a particular area should expect martins to arrive at their colony, or for that matter, to even see a martin. The sizes of the dots on the scout arrival map do not equate to numbers of martins arriving, just single martins arriving. Some folks are unable to recognize this, and every year some lose hope about getting martins, before the floodgates of migration have yet to open."
"Earliest arrivals are of small numbers of martins, usually just one to three. The average number of sightings reported on the PMCA’s scout arrival page prior to Feb. 1 over the past ten years is 138, and that total likely includes some reports with errors and cases of misidentification. Over half of those arrivals occurred in late January. Early scout reports displayed by the PMCA, typically depict the arrival of one or two martins at isolated colonies across the country—either at a few large, established sites, or at random smaller sites. After all, the scout report project and map are aimed at tracking first arrivals only, not at tracking or predicting wider arrivals that occur after the first returns. Most landlords in North America await the “general arrivals”."

"Shortly after Feb. 1 the beginning of what I call “general arrivals” will occur along the coast. General arrivals are a series of arrivals that occur in close proximity (over 2-3 days) across a large, or the entire, span of the Gulf coast, bringing significant numbers of martins to the country. The first general arrival of early Feb. will bring some martins to many of the larger established colonies along the coast and inward, and, hit or miss, to some smaller colonies. To that extent it is still somewhat limited. The first Feb. arrival appears to impact the eastern seaboard more strongly than the rest of the country, after which, that trend will reverse. Thereafter, the size and frequency of arrivals will increase as the age of the martins decrease, peaking with arrival of huge masses of subadults, the one-year-old birds, in early April."

"In the last half of February the first general coastal-wide arrival normally occurs—one that will bring a noticeable number of ASY martins to most established colonies, and some ASY birds to many smaller and younger colonies. This general wave of arrivals advances northward 100 or more miles per day, a movement visible in the PMCA’s scout reports. Along the coast it is evidenced by increased arrivals of 20 or 30 additional martins that overnight for a day or two, then continue northward."

Here is a link to an earlier forum post that shows: 1.) The relative insignificance of January arrivals; 2) The shift in sighting numbers from Florida (Atlantic flyway) in early January to Louisiana and Texas (Yucatan flyway) during the last week of January; and, 3) a comparison of January sightings over a 15 year period (10 years were cited and graphed in the published article).

viewtopic.php?t=29155

These numbers tell us something about the magnitude of loss during last year's polar vortex. In my opinion, there had been no large general arrival of purple martins when the freeze occurred before and through mid-Feb. There is little doubt that the majority of birds in residence at that time did not survive in the most impacted states (TX, LA, MS and AL). Fortunately, the early FL, GA arrivals fared better as the system weakened moving eastward. The freeze was followed by a significant general arrivals in mid to late Feb, following the freeze; and most importantly, we are talking loss totals in the "hundreds", as opposed to the "thousands" or "millions" that were yet to come.

Best wishes to all landlords and our martins--2022!

[Kegger]

Thanks for posting this John, good read! Mike P

[C.C.Martins]

I'd say!

[Jones4381]

Thanks John. I had my first bird show up May 7 (ASY) last year then pair up with a ASY female days later and then a SY male showed up a few weeks after that. I had mostly given up that first week of May 2021 (2nd year of striking out) after looking at March 15 on the PMCA chart for SW VA arrivals...thought I had missed them again. Your explanation is beneficial for many of us in having a better understanding of interpreting the migration and the overall window when birds show up. Looks like there is a 2 1/2 month window to attract these birds (loved the explanation of oldest birds to youngest birds and various 'waves' timeline) and as others have said education and patience are probably the 2 most important things for Martin enthusiast. Thank you again for helping me look at it in a different light and getting more educated with this hobby.

I've located 3 colonies near me (1 mile away, 8 miles away, and 12 miles away). I think I'm going to go introduce myself this spring and speak with my Martin neighbors and see what results they see to be in better position of opening up my site.

[Dave Reynolds]

... Thanks John ... Great article.... Lots of good information ..

Dave