This morning the martins are building nests like crazy. They are making flight back and forth to the pine trees for needles and other trees for leaves. It seems to have started very suddenly.
At the colonies at my work site I notice one female carrying nest material on Friday morning. I thought, oh she is just getting started. Saturday morning I was doing some work on the martin houses and decided to see how she was getting along. She had a very substantial nest of pine needles stacked halfway to the roof of the compartment and in the center the nest cup was neatly lined with green and brown leaves. I think she is about to start laying eggs.
I had a SY female show up at the my work site colonies yesterday. The ASY males went crazy singing and showing off (which didn't seem to make their mates very happy). She was a beautiful text book model of a SY female. There is an SY female that has been at my home site for about a week and seems to be pairing up with one of my ASY males. I was looking at her today and she is very pale on her belly and her crissum is almost pure white. The one thing that throws it all off is that I noticed that the one feather at the apex of her crissum has a brown center with a white edge. Otherwise she looks like a typical SY female. Does anyone know if the one brown feather that looks like an ASY female makes her an ASY female? In other words is she a very pale ASY female with a very white crissum or is she a precocial SY female? Any thoughts out there?
It is a great martin day in Central Florida! I hope that martins are bringing spring with them for your folks in the north.
James
Nest Building Time and SY females
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Guest
WE AREN'T SEEING ANY NEST BUILDING ACTIVITIES HERE AT MY SITE IN SOUTH EAST LOUISIANA. I AM 30 MINUTES SOUTH OF NEW ORLEANS.
SINCE YOU ARE FURTHER SOUTH THAN US PERHAPS THAT IS WHY YOURS GOT STARTED FASTER THAN US.
DID YOU HAVE ANY NEST MATERIALS IN THE NEST FOR THEM? OR DID YOU START WITH EMPTY CAVITIES?
I HAVE PINE STRAW IN MOST OF MY HOUSING AND HAVEN'T SEEN ANYONE ADDING TO THE NESTS YET.
GUESS I BETTER GET ANOTHER CUP OF COFFEE AND GO OUTSIDE AND WATCH FOR BOTH SUBBIES AND NEST BUILDING.( I AIN'T SEEN EITHER YET)
C.D. BAILEY
SINCE YOU ARE FURTHER SOUTH THAN US PERHAPS THAT IS WHY YOURS GOT STARTED FASTER THAN US.
DID YOU HAVE ANY NEST MATERIALS IN THE NEST FOR THEM? OR DID YOU START WITH EMPTY CAVITIES?
I HAVE PINE STRAW IN MOST OF MY HOUSING AND HAVEN'T SEEN ANYONE ADDING TO THE NESTS YET.
GUESS I BETTER GET ANOTHER CUP OF COFFEE AND GO OUTSIDE AND WATCH FOR BOTH SUBBIES AND NEST BUILDING.( I AIN'T SEEN EITHER YET)
C.D. BAILEY
Hi Bailey,
I think our season is a bit ahead of you, but probably not by much. I thought they were a little early myself. I will have to check my records from last year. They really started nest building yesterday and today. I start with the corn fodder on the bottom of the nest and add pine straw to the top. They have been adding leaves and needles all morning. They have also been flying to the ground to pick up things today also.
Hopefully yours will start nest building soon.
Sincerely
James
I think our season is a bit ahead of you, but probably not by much. I thought they were a little early myself. I will have to check my records from last year. They really started nest building yesterday and today. I start with the corn fodder on the bottom of the nest and add pine straw to the top. They have been adding leaves and needles all morning. They have also been flying to the ground to pick up things today also.
Hopefully yours will start nest building soon.
Sincerely
James
James Mejeur
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Dale Hrncirik
Hi James,
The SY females are the toughest to ID which is probably why the PMCA doesn't include them as arriving scouts. Have you seen any SY males yet? If so, it's very likely that is a SY female you are seeing.
Nest building is 2 or 3 weeks away(I think) for the martins in north Texas. Now they are really busy putting 'dubs' on their digs. I notice many females siting inside while the others fly off.
It's another beautiful day here as well. Enjoy those birdies!
Dale
The SY females are the toughest to ID which is probably why the PMCA doesn't include them as arriving scouts. Have you seen any SY males yet? If so, it's very likely that is a SY female you are seeing.
Nest building is 2 or 3 weeks away(I think) for the martins in north Texas. Now they are really busy putting 'dubs' on their digs. I notice many females siting inside while the others fly off.
It's another beautiful day here as well. Enjoy those birdies!
Dale
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floridasunshinegoddess
James, you might want to look at this link Louise posted last week which goes into much more detail re: SY Females. According to this information, the quill feathers can be a little dark and she can still be a SY. Also, some females have Crissums that don't fall into the SY or ASY category. In that case, you would need to look at ALL the plumage to make a determination.
http://www.purplemartin.org/update/Tattletails11(4).pdf
http://www.purplemartin.org/update/Tattletails11(4).pdf