Swooping behavior

[Guest]

I have one or two martins in my colony who get very agitated when I do nest checks and lately even when I am simply in the yard near their house. They swoop down passing a couple of feet from my head and make a very ugly sound in the process. I'm somewhat offended that they behave as if I'm an enemy when in fact I'm on their side! Is this common behavior?

[Guest]

I've got one male that fairly consistantly dive bombs me whenever I am outside. Irritating isn't it.

Ian

[Laverne]

Hello mdierks.

We tend to forget that Purple Martins are "wild". They don't see us as the providers we actually are. There are usually a pair or two in a colony who are very defensive of their nest. I always try to understand that I don't know the history of these birds and I don't know what they have watched happen to their nests in the past. You can bet that many Purple Martins have lost an entire nest to some kind of predation in the past. The divebombing is the one agressive action a Purple Martin can do to try and drive away an intruder. They do the same thing to the hawks in the sky - they have no other defense.

Poor little scared birdies... If you had lost young in the past - you would be overprotective, too.

Please don't take offense to their behavior - they are just trying to get their bluff in on you. And the fact that you lower their housing and mess with their nest is enough to cause their little hearts to beat fast and defense mechanisms to kick in. They are very afraid of you and the only thing you can do is spend more time around them until they realize that you are not a threat. That takes time...

[Sparky]

I have observed this behavior mostly connected to SY Pairs. The adult pairs and I assume returning pairs to the colony do not exhibit this behavior (as much). I believe they in some way get used to your prescence. I have several pair that sit on the perches above while I do nest checks. They just watch. The SY's fly around screaming circling in the air. This not to say all Adult pairs get used to the nest checks, but some do. They will come to appreciate the efforts you are putting forth.

[Guest]

I don't usually have much of a dive bombing problem until close to the time the babies are ready to fledge. Almost like the parents know the little ones are getting ready to try their wings and they don't want any predators around in case the babies end up on the ground for a while.

I also agree that the subs tend to do this more than the ASYs.

[Dale Hrncirik]

I agree with Sparky and LauraH that the divebombing is usually performed by SYs that are trying to provide a safe area as their young near fledgling age. My five pairs are all SYs and they squawk at me much more recently than before. One nest has fledged and the others will with a couple of weeks. This behavior was very rare at my site in Wylie but that colony was usually all ASY birds. You should see this less often as your colony matures. Talk to your birds, visit them often and they will soon see that you are not a threat.

Martins that do this are actually very good parents.

Dale

[Guest]

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of visiting a puffin colony on an island off the coast of Maine. Terns were also nesting there and were very aggressive in divebombing and swooping. We were handed sticks (3 ft. or so) and advised to hold them up and the terns would swoop at the highest points of the sticks, rather than at our heads. It worked, but haven't tried "tern sticks" with the martins.

I have one nesting pair left, with four nestlings that should be fledging this weekend, so it's kind of quiet and lonely.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I was watering the yard with a hand held sprinkler, and one ASY male kept divebombing me, so I was ready for him, and I gave him a squirt of water as he went by. He quit divebombing! I had to laugh at him.. I knew the water would not hurt him.