I've been noticing a SY male who all season has never lost interest in nosing around a particular nest that's occupied by an ASY male and female (not sure her age). The nestlings are now at least 20 days old, and today I saw the SY male -- who is a little extra dark on his chest -- leaving the compartment, struggling some with the SREH. Sometimes he sits in front of it, but the ASY male and his mate are coming and going feeding. I can't lower the house now to check on things, as other nests have babies about to fledge and might fly out -- some nests have fledged already.
Is his persistence at this stage unusual?
John Miller,
St. Louis, Mo
Question about nosey SY male
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Steve Kroenke
- Posts: 4342
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 6:49 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Logansport
John,
What you are seeing is common. SY males are always interested in entering the nests of other martins that have young of various ages. I have watched them enter and stay with the young until the parents arrived and chased the intruder away. I seriously believe some of these SY males are "pedophiles" as I have seen them copulate with fledglings that were perched on gourd crossbars, sitting on the roof of my house, or sitting on the ground. SY males may peck and harass large young inside the nests and you may see the youngsters even try to exit if they are close to fledging age. SY males are the primary attackers of fledglings and these males will latch on to the back of these youngsters and sometimes drive them to the ground or into thickets. This back attack behavior may be an attempt to copulate with the fledgling. And as you know, bachelor SY males will sometimes commit infanticide on very small recently hatched baby martins. SY males are no friends of young martins!
Steve
What you are seeing is common. SY males are always interested in entering the nests of other martins that have young of various ages. I have watched them enter and stay with the young until the parents arrived and chased the intruder away. I seriously believe some of these SY males are "pedophiles" as I have seen them copulate with fledglings that were perched on gourd crossbars, sitting on the roof of my house, or sitting on the ground. SY males may peck and harass large young inside the nests and you may see the youngsters even try to exit if they are close to fledging age. SY males are the primary attackers of fledglings and these males will latch on to the back of these youngsters and sometimes drive them to the ground or into thickets. This back attack behavior may be an attempt to copulate with the fledgling. And as you know, bachelor SY males will sometimes commit infanticide on very small recently hatched baby martins. SY males are no friends of young martins!
Steve