Leaf gathering observations and your experiences.

[Jones4381]

Here the pairs always go for the two pears about 80 feet from their nest first and pick them pretty good, although some pairs continue to pick leaves here it seems they have moved their preference to some Black Cherries (after about a month) that are on the high side of the property with some White oaks that are mature giving highest altitude on property. Question, do you think they go for the leaves that are closest or prefer a specific type and where the leaves are at in their stage, does safety in picking factor in? Occasionally they chose the largest white oak here that give's them the best vantage point of sight (along with large Cherry side by side crowns) or is it ease of picking and returning to nest, or a type of leaf they're looking for? I always find it interesting when other LL's share their leaf stories and the what nots found in the nest...also some load it down with leaves while others only have a few...

[Martintown33]

Hi Jones.. from my observation they love oak tree leaves, but do go to the closest tree at times too and use those leaves, which is a maple..
Rob

[C.C.Martins]

Jones, they love oaks around here. Also crepe myrtle. There is a big ash tree near me, but they seem to struggle when trying to pull leaves off. Yeah some nests are loaded with leaves, seems like I'm always taking leaves out if I think there's too many...I worry eggs will not incubate.
The crape myrtle tree is lower than any of the nearby oaks and certainly the ash, and they love it.

[Jones4381]

amazing on the variances of leaves and their choices from place to place...I have 3 large crape's and they don't touch em... Thanks guys for the share.

[Martintown33]

Yep, I guess they use what’s available and what they’re used to. Plenty of crepe myrtles around here, and my martins don’t use them either.. strictly oak and chewed off pieces of maple leaves…
Rob

[Conrad Baker]

I had several citrus trees that the PM removed leaves from. I think maybe they helped keep mites and other pests from the nests. The trees have died since then, so they just use oak leaves from the neighbor's tree now, along with the long thin sugar cane leaves they retrieve from the cane fields behind my house.

[Phil01]

Mine love the live oak leaves. We have some Oaks over 100ft tall and they go to the very top grabbing leaves.(It’s also where they take the fledglings during flight training) Had to remove a bunch of oak leaves this year in some of the nests after reading on here some of the eggs may not get incubated. My neighbor has a birch tree 30 feet tall only about 100 ft from the housing. It will be covered up with martins during nest building. As I mentioned in another thread had a SY female this year using Spanish moss… Only one I ever seen use that.. I’ve also have them use some sort of a husk, it looks like the type you find on the palm leaves when they open up.. They never touch my Crepe Myrtle tree.
Very very interesting how they use what’s available in different parts of the country.
Phil

[randyM]

Early nesting martins at my colony usually use lilac bush leaves as they are the first leaves available at my site. Later nests have green ash and elm leaves. There are a few cottonwood trees nearby, but have never seen a cottonwood leaf in a martin nest at my site. Last year was a cold and late spring, so most of the first nests had green grass and no leaves. A few martins plucked all the leaves from my young bell pepper and cabbage plants I had recently planted in my garden last spring as well!

Randy