2nd year landlord question

[Dooner58]

After 5 years of trying, last year I experienced my first mating pair that successfully fledged 3 Martins. Very excited to start a colony! Adult male scout arrived here (Upstate NY) on May 5th. I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of the Martins to arrive. What should be a normal timeframe return after the scout arrives - days, weeks???

[John Miller]

Not much exact with purple martins. If your adult male is spending the night, that's encouraging that his presence likely will bring in others...at least a few. One really needs to work up to a colony of 12 to 20 pairs to have reliable returns each year, so you are doing well so far. Yes, martins that successfully fledge young show strong site fidelity, but sometimes the adults might not survive for one more year, so with just a pair or two..returns are hopeful but not certain. Month of May is biggest influx in northern part of their nesting range, and I'm hopeful you have one or two more by now. If not, any day. And returns of subadults through about first week of June.

[flyin-lowe]

Hopefully the one you are seeing is from last year. If so he will stay and will attract a mate. Statistically they say you need to have 6 pair or more to ensure you get returnees the next year. The number of martins that don't survive the migration down, the over winter, and then the migration is pretty high. Even if you don't get any adult females back from last year, and SY female will be more than eager to stay with an ASY male. The first colony I started, i had a lone SY male stay in a cavity all summer and never attract a mate. The next year he came back to the same cavity and I ended up with 5 SY pair when all said and done. The numbers just climbed from there.

[Dan G]

Best of luck Dooner. We are in a similar situation to you. We hosted one pair last year ,after several years of trying and they raised and fledged 2 chicks. The first martins returned to our area in central PA around the end of March. We didn’t see our first martin until May 12. An ASY male. I have seen him four days this week but he does a few circles and leaves. I’m not sure if he is our bird from last year. He doesn’t stay over night. He is the only Martin we see. The SY’s should be here soon, so…. We keep waiting.