Two Little Martins Killed

[Guest]

I had two young martins that would not stay in the martin house, they would fly down into the lake as fast as I could put them back up. They would get into our flower beds near the house and the parents would feed them on the ground. Every time I got near them, they would hide in the flower bed and I could not find them. Five of the adults would swoop down within inches of my head til I backed away. Thursday morning I found two neat little stacks of feathers about 5 feet apart in the flower bed and all the martins are gone. Our cat was kept inside our house, so he could not have done this. What would eat all of a martin like that and just leave the big feathers in a stack? Each year the martins are gone just before July 4th. I wonder after this attack will they return next year?

[Guest]

Gerald,
I reviewed your other posts and it looks like there may be a problem in the nest. I agree with Dale's assessment from an earlier post:

>Do you do regular nest checkss to inspect for mites or do you do nest changes? My guess is that bird mites is the culprit

>> still have small ones that are being fed by the parents. Afraid if I opened up the house, I would have more small ones in the lake

If you have a pole that you can lower the housing smoothly, the babies will usually stay put. If you keep records you will know the age of the babies and can cover the entrance of the older ones that might jump out early while to tend the younger nests.

If you do the nest checks regularly, and start early before eggs are laid, the martins will get used to you and will sit tight. More so if the compartments are deep. I often have adult marting sit tight through nest checks.

I'd review the housing and see if maybe there might be improvments that will allow for regular nest checks. If the pole needs to be moved away from the water, maybe plant a new ground socket now before winter.

[RC Moser]

Some body elses cat got them IMO.

[Dale Hrncirik]

Gerald,

It sounds like a stray cat might have gotten your martins(as RC stated). At my previous house, I had many feral cats getting inside my 6-8' stockade(wood) fence. I had to resort to trapping them to protect the birds.

Another possibility is that a hawk saw them floundering on the ground, caught them in the flower bed and ate them there leaving piles of feathers.

Fat and happy babies will normally stay in the nest until they can fly. Babies that jump out early are usually starving or being ate up by mites, with the latter being the usual culprit. Mother Nature largely controls the available food supply but we can easily help the martins with their parasite problems. We really need to be proactive rather than reactive when dealing with nest mites. Your martins will thank you and stay where they belong...in the nest.

Good luck,
Dale

[Laverne]

...and, No, this loss will not cause your PM colony to leave and never return.

The next time you have premature fledging you must investigate and determine the cause. Purple Martin nestlings will stay in their nest cavity until truly ready to take to the air confidently and capably.

Whenever you have a young PM on the ground or in the water and not able to fly - this is a premature fledgling and it will not survive on the ground.

I have found a pile of feathers with little bitty bones after fire ants devoured a baby on the ground. Please do whatever you can to keep these young PMs in their nest - and if that fails, put them in a cardboard box for safekeeping through the night.

[klcretired]

gerald1,
I am sorry for your Loss...It hurt's very badly and I agree 100% w/ dale and what he said, I just had a similar problem and did all i could to help the fledgling but evidentually took him to a rehab close to me to save his life, I know alot of PM Landlord's are not that Lucky to have a rehaber close to them ,do you have any rehaber's in your area??, i know it's too late now , but try and find out any info that you can about a rehab in your area , get all of the info and have it handy so next time when a Crisis arises you will be more prepared and can save those precious babies.We as Landlord's Learn by our mistakes and believe me thru the year's i have made alot of them but being More prepared and finding out what to do and getting help has really helped the survival of my Colony and it will your's also.It will get better & easier for you as time goes on believe me i have been there with you.

[Guest]

Thanks for all the advice. We do have a lot of Copper Tailed Hawks around here, so I think that is the prediator. What do mites look like and how do you get them out of your martin house? I plan on getting my PM house set up next year so that I can raise and lower more easily.

I certainly am learning a lot on this forum.......Thanks Again..
HG

[klcretired]

Gerald,
you can go to the PMCA forum "archives" at the top of the page click on it and scroll down to Seven Dust when the page opens and here's a website w/ a pic of a Bird Mite : http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/birdmite.html

I use the Seven dust underneath the front edge of all My PM nests and never get a problem , but B-4 i started useing the Sevin Dust i used Rubbing alcohol in a mist bottle to spray and clean out the nest & Mites.