Catastrophic Late Spring Weather Event

[randyM]

We had a pretty tough stretch of cold, windy, rainy/snowy weather over 7 of the past 8 days in northeast SD and southeast ND and parts of MN with back-to back stationary low pressure systems. The local martins had it very tough with only 1 “nice” day to feed in more than a week, otherwise daytime temps were in the 40’s with overnight lows in the low 30’s with constant light to moderate rain and even 1.5 inches of snow Tuesday evening. Needless to say, many martins perished over the past few days. Many landlords in the area I talked with have picked up dead martins at their sites by the dozen resulting in a loss of 25-50% or more of their resident martins. I have a very large colony and was as prepared as could be for such an event, but still lost 100+ martins at my colony (I also picked up numerous dead tree swallows, barn swallows and cliff swallows from my yard). I have 3 elevated feeding stations and went through a 2-pound bag of dehydrated meal worms. I also flipped 2 gallon-sized ziplock bags full of grasshoppers, 2 gallon-sized ziplock bags full of June Beetles and over 5 dozen dragonflies. I flip 4-5 insects at a time due to the large number of martins I’m feeding. I had about 150 martins taking flipped insects and maybe half that number eating from the feeding platforms, however about 25% of the martins just wouldn’t eat anything. I also collected 28 live martins from the ground that were too weak and wet to fly and put them in gourds with straw (5 in each gourd) and set the gourds next to a heat duct in my house to warm them up. I force-fed each of them 5-10 hoppers three times a day. I lost 9 of the 28 martins, but the surviving 19 seemed strong enough to release this afternoon. Eleven flew off strongly, 4 flew off weakly and 4 could only fly a few feet. I’m feeding and keeping the 4 non-flyers inside one more night and hopefully they will be strong enough for sustained flight tomorrow. It’s difficult watching martins drop to the ground from the ledge of their housing and also fall from the air during mid-flight due to weather induced starvation and hypothermia. It’s hard to believe the week prior we had a full week of temps in the upper 80’s and mid 90’s with nest building and egg laying in full swing. All that activity hit the wall with the cold weather. Mother nature can be harsh, but we do what we can to buffer such severe events.

An interesting thing occurred to me yesterday morning…while I was flipping insects to the hungry flock of martins, I had one friendly ASY male land on top of the hat I was wearing twice while waiting for me to flip the next hopper! I tried to offer him one from my hand, but he refused and waited until I gently tossed the hopper 2 feet above my head before he’d eat! I’ve had martins hover a foot or two above my head on past occasions, but this is a first for me having one gently land on my head!

It was a sunny calm day today (60 degrees) and most of the surviving martins seemed to find enough food, but a few still had drooping wings this evening. I’ll toss the last few cups full of hoppers I have to them in the morning and hopefully that will help them get over the hump.

Randy

[Jones4381]

Very uplifting moment with the PM on hat taking food. I bet you'll recall and retell that moment more and more as time goes on. Great advice with the dragonflies...I always simply viewed them on the ground at the pole as a missed opportunity for the birds...thanks for showing me I was missing the opportunity too...
Im sorry for your unfortunate event but you shared some amazing stories within this time that will help others and perhaps save 1000's of Birds you'll never see...Best wishes Randy and good weather so you and your flock can enjoy Spring Summer and the Circle.
-Rod

[Thomas Maddox]

It's so unbelievablely painful to witness. However, it's very uplifting to hear about your efforts. Thanks for sharing and job well done!

[SE Wisc hopefull]

Randy - very interesting and helpful for us newbies. You are an inspiration to do what we can ... here's to warmer weather. Also good to see that PMs can recognize their helpful human friends in time of need.

[Stingray]

Randy,
Sorry you and the other landlords had to endure this. I can't imagine how painful that must have been to go through, and how much worse it could have been if not for your preparation, dedication and hard work.
You should feel good about all the lives you've saved.
Loved hearing about the little guy on your hat.
Epitome of a good landlord.
I hope the rest of your seaon is uneventful.


Regards,

[Rafke77]

I believe this is the same issue we are having. It's been about a week of cool temps and scattered rain. We've found a lot dead.

[Rick B]

]With 3 days of cold ,windy and rainy weather the birds are very hungry. I was feeding 30-35 eggs a day and they still wanted more.

[Thomas Maddox]

How did you train them to eat there? Great job by the way!

[Martintown33]

Excellent job and effort saving as many as you could! Very noble effort! Job well done.. it is amazing how tame these “ wild” birds can be at times.. it s a very special relationship between man and our martins..
Good luck
Rob

[Rick B]

[quote="Thomas Maddox" post_id=313373 time=1748301445 user_id=24804]
How did you train them to eat there? Great job by the way!
[/quote]
They eat on the pole feeder most of the time, but if they are really hungry they will land on my deck and wait.
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[Thomas Maddox]

Rick, so you never "trained " them by tossing the eggs first? Or you just put it in the trays and they came and ate?

[Rick B]

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(2.06 MiB) Not downloaded yet

I got a colony started at a friends pond about a mile away in 2016. I flipped crickets in an snow and ice storm the following spring until they started to eat and switched to flipping eggs the next day. It took a few more years to get my first pair at my place, but they ate off the feeder and when i flipped eggs to them right away. They will eat crickets, but seem to prefer the eggs?