Yesterday just after I finished putting up my gourd rack and was leaving the pier I heard a chirp and looked up and two females circled and landed on the gourd rack It was about 5:00 PM so I sat back and observed until sunset and again as last year the first arrival took gourd 8 and settled in for the night What a great feeling.
May your martineering experience be a rewarding one.
I saw our first ones yesterday when I got up in the morning. They are flying over Lake Christopher which is in the Kempsville section of Virginia Beach. I was so excited to see them, they are early.
The weather today is awful, cold and gloomy, they are swooping over the lake and I do hope they are finding enough food to keep them going. It's supposed to be not so nice for two more days and then warm and sunny. Sometimes I wish they would wait another few weeks just to make sure they can survive.
I have not seen any coming to my housing, I have a 12 apartment house and 8 gourds, last year we had five breeding pair, hope to have more this year. I can''t wait!
This is the earliest I ever gotten them too. I also am glad to have them, but very apprehensive due to the weather. Fortunately it is the most mature birds we are getting know. Good luck with your colony this year, the gourds are a great addition. I'm sure your colony will expand this year.
May your martineering experience be a rewarding one.
Hello Dennis,
Congrats on your first martins and many more to come! Nice pic of the lake! I live on a lake too! Have 22 ASY martins today! Three pairs last year, go figure! Good luck! John!
Hi Jane and Dennis,
Where is Chester????? Yikes, I need to get ready!!! I am a little worried. We still aren't getting above 50 very often. This weekend however, it is supposed to get up to 70!
3 arrivals this afternoon about 5pm which is about the time of my first sittings usually. This is the earliest I have had new arrivals in 6 years,by about a week. They appeared to be in good shape as opposed to the last two cold and rainy early springs.
So these are the birds returing to established sites? I'm a newbie form W.Va. and don't have my housing up yet. Am I right in saying I still have 3-4 weeks before the Sub Adult martins arrive that may occupy new sites? I hope so because I'm still painting my housing.
I don't no how to answer that ,but I will relay a story to you you decide. My normal arrival time is right on march 15th. my first year I bought a set of gourds on a whim on the 15th of march,put them up the same day, walked about 30 feet and turned around to check out my new pole and three martins were sitting on it. they occupied it that night . check the map of scouts they are allready in lower indiana.,upper kentucky etc.. I am no expert but I would be doing some serious painting.
Wow! Chester is so close. I'm in Powhatan and haven't seen one yet. We have our houses and gourds up, but haven't completed the total set-up yet, plan to do that Sunday. We need to put some Sevin Dust in the bottom of nests, then add the pine needles, put the predator guards around the poles and then we'll be set. Now that you have them, I'll be looking more closely every day.
We ran a small ad in the Powhatan paper looking for other Martin Landlords to discuss their housing and ours, maybe trading tips back and forth. We had about 7 people call us and I was amazed at the fact that few of these people really knew about Martins. I mentioned nest checks to one lady and she was really concerned as she doesn't have a pole she can lower and would have to climb a very tall ladder to get to the house and since she's retired, she's reluctant to do that at her age. I plan on calling these people tomorrow and inviting them over Sunday while we finish up and hopefully educate them some.
RHBrown wrote:So these are the birds returing to established sites? I'm a newbie form W.Va. and don't have my housing up yet. Am I right in saying I still have 3-4 weeks before the Sub Adult martins arrive that may occupy new sites?
Correct, but...
I hope so because I'm still painting my housing.
There is a chance of getting ASY Martins at a new site if their previous housing was taken down, blew down and wasn't replaced, the ASY pair suffered predation at their previous site, etc. In my case, I got started thanks to overflow from an established colony plus I offered better housing and better control of S&S.
It was about 5:00 PM so I sat back and observed until sunset and again as last year the first arrival took gourd 8 and settled in for the night 
I am a little worried. We still aren't getting above 50 very often. This weekend however, it is supposed to get up to 70!