Kentucky is a Special Place - New Colony Established

[scottfreidhof]

Last year in July 2024 my wife and I picked wild blackberries on a local wildlife management area (former golf course named Sunny Brook) along Triplett Creek. For the hour or so that we were picking, there was a group of 4-5 martins foraging and singing overhead. That was not surprising because I was aware of an established colony of martins about 0.7 miles further west along Triplett Creek and Route 60 (see map). The housing at that site consists of three 12-room Trio aluminum houses.

Fast forward to yesterday, Friday, May 23, 2025. I finally got around to setting up a gourd rack with 8 natural gourds at Sunny Brook after work around 5:30 pm. Today at 1:00 pm there were 5 martins in the gourds and on the gourd rack. I walked over and was immediately dive bombed by the birds defending their new nest site..."as if"... they had been there all spring. Hopefully it is not too late and the birds will still be motivated to begin nest building.

My best guess for the speedy establishment of new nesting colonies in Kentucky is the state's geographic location in the approximate center of the nesting range of this amazing bird. Witnessing this today though, it is a bit discouraging to think about the unknown number of martins that spend the nesting season in Kentucky without a nesting site.

These martins without nest sites were first revealed to me one year in June about three miles west along Triplett Creek at an established colony at the local recycling center in Morehead. It was evening and I was enjoying the 8 pairs of nesting martins foraging over Triplett Creek. I just happened to look around the building and counted 30 martins sitting on the electric line. After a few minutes the entire group flew east along the Triplett Creek valley corridor towards today's new colony location and out of sight. I assume they flew off to a summer roost.

[Unk Bond]

Hello
Off topic
Noticed your from Morehead Kentucky
Small world ] I was born in Olive Hill Kentucky
Just a few miles from you
Later Unk Bond

[John Miller]

Scott

I agree. Kentucky martins are the best -- except for martins in all the other states.


And I agree that probably a lot of martins present simply do not nest because of lack of housing or established housing with existing colonies where they feel comfortable.

Keep up your good work,
John Miller

[Mstan]

I have wondered about Martins lacking nesting boxes. I have thought of putting up more gourds. I don’t want to put up more than I can manage though.

[scottfreidhof]

John you are correct - Missouri martins and the people who care for them are above average. Everyone knows that and it does not get said often enough. I do the best I can over here with the runts of the martin population. I wanted to include Missouri but the title of the post would have been too cumbersome. For example, "The 38th Parallel States of Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia are Special Places - New Colonies Established" That sounds more like the title of a book rather than a forum post.