affects of hurricane

[Guest]

Does anyone have any insight as to what the affect will be of the loss of Purple Martin housing in the areas affected by the hurricane?

That is,will it cause an early migration northward to find housing, before the insect population developes and cause a high mortality rate due to lack of natural food? Stanz

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Stanz, I really don't think there is any chance of that happening. Of course, nobody else probably knows the answer either...there are always many unanswered questions in the bird world, but yours doesn't seem like it will happen..

My reason is that the arrivals are usually such that unless extreme temps are encountered, the arrivals are perfectly timed, the hatch date are perfectly timed for optimum bugs, etc. Mother nature seems to have all of that figured out just right, so under normal weather conditions, you have no worries whatsoever...

[Joe Zorn]

Stanz,
It would be my guess that the only reason the PM that normally stay along the Texas, Louisiana, Miss, Alabama gulf coast would head north this year would be that their previous landlords no longer offer the housing that was up in previous years.

I am sure that is going to be the case, expecially in the areas south and
east of New Orleans, and due south of Lake Charles, La. and Beaumont, Tx. Many of those evacuees have still not returned to their homes, six months later. A LARGE percentage, infact. St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parishes (Counties) south of New Orleans is still better than 75% evacuated. The further north and west, the more likely the folks were able to comeback.

Even taking a look at the areas north of Lake Pontchartrain (which New Orleans is on south shore), many of those people are still living in FEMA housing, mostly away from their damaged properties.

I agree with Emil, in that the bugs will be there. There are a LOT of bugs in Louisiana, and they seem to know how to protect themselves in storms that devastates human habitat. But the Purple Martin's dependance on us may cause them a lot of trouble this year. Being a Martin Rich area, many people here had houses and colonies up. Everyone here has a neighbor who has a PM house or gourd rack. Thats what the PMs are going to miss this year. Most in the hardest hit areas have not been able to put thier systems back up this year, simply because they did not go home again last August and September.

Joe

[Guest]

While we residents in Southern Florida cannot compare hurricane damage with New Orleans, etc. , we did experience tremendous damage due to Wilma. Tree, roof, and other property damage and destruction were widespread through Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. Martin houses were devastated.

I have wondered if Martins might even lose familiar landmarks (along with having unfamiliar replacement houses to return to) and not return due to those reasons. So far, our area is reporting few sitings, and our favorite birds have us still watching and waiting as they are long overdue.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Bill, the martins definitely will not get lost, I doubt that they even use landmarks, because I have cut down trees and moved poles and they still always go back and hoover over the area of the old pole...their radar or whatever they use is probably better than man will ever invent..

The devastation of the martin housing most likely will be a major problem, probably a lot of fighting for the available cavities, even probably nesting in unusual places...I have heard that they will move only 200 or 300 miles for the nestlings, so the adults may not even move that much.. We have no way of knowing, so maybe we will learn from this...this sure would be an excellent time to increase the housing for the people that are considering doing that, the martins will most likely need extra housing..

I suspect that this large cold front prevented the martins friom returning, but I really do expect many many martins in the next 2 to 3 weeks....Hope you get some real soon

[Joe Zorn]

Emil,

After the post I left last night about the areas devastated her in south Louisiana, I went to the scout report.

I was amazed to see that the areas I described, southeast of New Orleans...Plaquemine and St Bernard Parishes, can still be seen as white on the map. Just one or two blue dots would cover that entire area. ONe of two things are happening here. Either the people are not there yet to see and report the martin sightings, or the devastation is great enough that the housing has not been available. so they move on.

An if you look very closely at the southern boarders, you can stll see some state lines left in extreme South Louisiana, Miss, and Alabama. North Florida and South Texas are unusually quiet too.

Bill, every storm that hits anywhre in the Gulf Coast usually passes through Florida somewhere first. I don't envy folks that live in your area.

Joe

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Joe, I used to live down there, South of Gretna, and I understand that our old house is ruined, the entire subdivision is closed! I worked and fished the area around Plaquemines Parish, so I wish I could see it, it must be pitiful! There were many martin houses in the area where I lived, so I too wonder where they will go...poor martins must wonder what caused the destruction! That is where I lived when I put up my very first PM house

[John Barrow]

Joe, although far south Texas appears blank, I can assure you that martins have passed through the area and hundreds of thousands more will do so this season. But except for a few isolated towns in the area where martin colonies are established, a strip about 50 miles wide and 100 miles long is dominated by huge ranches, including the King, Yturria and Kennedy ranches, the latter being the site of the recent much publicized quail hunt. Other large ranches are in the area and there are many miles of undeveloped brushland. I know the King Ranch has a couple of martin houses at their headquarters in Kingsville (near Corpus Christi) but no of none of the other ranches with established colonies. There are colonies in Harlingen and Brownsville at the very southern tip of Texas, but I don't know if those folks post scout data. There is a group of landlords in McAllen who are very faithful about posting returns. But I expect there will always be an area of white along the Texas Coast where the ranches prevail.