Starving Martins in North Texas

[Guest]

Monday March 20th we had a break in the weather after a deluge over the week-end. Then on Monday I really began to see a lot of Martins in North Plano here in Texas. I had two pair occupying two of my three gourds I just put up. My neighbors had a lot of adult Martins also, with several pair occupying their house. Monday night I watched as one pair came down from the sky and entered their gourd for the night.

Then, we had three days of bad weather...cloudy and cold. We had a light freeze last night and today the sun came out after three days of weather that was not Martin weather and I saw very few Martins. I saw none around my house and gourds. Then this morning I heard some noise in one of the gourds and a few Martin sounds. I lowered the gourds and looked in all three. The one with the sounds coming from it had two adult Martins in it. Not until I opened the access cap did the male fly...very low to the ground the up into the air. The female would not come out, so I removed her and let her go to fly. She took off slowing then flew up very high into the sky. She appeared to join her mate and off they went.

They evidently had been in the gourd for several days and maybe since last Monday night. Were they starving and any chance they will recover since they can fly. The weather is improving, but saw no Martins in the sky this morning other than the two I released. Have not seen any around the neighbors house.

After this long winded story, does anyone think maybe we lost some in our neighborhood, and did I do the right thing by taking my pair out of the gourd???

This is only me second year, so just learning....Bud

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I would say that they were starving, and if you don't have excellent weather with bugs today, that many martins will die. Some people have tried supplemental feeding with success, and that is always an option...when prolonged bad wheather occurs, you can either let them die, or you can try supplemental feeding of crickets, mealworms, or eggs..I fed mine a couple weeks ago, and I saved them all.

A lot of martin landlords have never tried supplemental feeding, so I feel that this will be a tough time for the martins this year..temperatures may not be the only thing involved, because if the north wind is blowing, and the temps are about 50 to 65 deg, and if the wind is brisk, there probably are still not any flying insects. This causes the martins to go without food.

[Guest]

I saw one of my martins a couple of springs back fall off the pole and die of starvation after about 4 days of continuous rain and 40 ish temps,coupled with the prolonged bad weather they had to contend with to get this far up. I went straight to the bait shop and bought crickets ,threw one, it was caught and the rest is history. all I have to do now is just walk outside with the cricket bucket and they start flying like indians circling the wagon train. My martins are so fat I might have to put them on weight watchers. I probably feed too much ,but I'd rather have them well fed in marginal temps and weather than cold and hungry. And I truly believe that is why two of my neighbors that have had large colonies in the past now have few. One of them stopped by last year(it was a particularly cold and wet spring for us) and asked me how I had so many birds and he so few(he had a colony for 15 years longer than me) I said do you feed them ,he looked at me like I was stupid. I said wait , got my crickets and when he saw the action he could not believe his eyes. He flings crickets now! I don't know this for a fact but I also feel that when they are well fed and healthy that they are far more alert and able to escape a hawk attack or any other predation that might come along. When they are weak and lethargic they are easy targets.

[Guest]

I appreciate the replies. However, our Martin population was not that big in our as of last Monday, but was increasing. Then boom...they all disappeared and did not seem to be around for any feeding. Just this one pair that was holed up in the gourd.

I understand the feeding process, and was prepared to do it but this weather caught me by suprise. The Martins we did have on Monday appeared to be flying and catching a lot of bugs and when they would land appeared to be in good condition. So, with the clearing off on Monday from the rain over the week-end that prevented them from feeding, I thought on Monday they would be in good shape for a day or two. But then it turned into three more days of cloudy and cold weather.

Bud

[Dick Sherry]

Bud, we have had similar bad weather in northeastern Oklahoma for the last week. Basicly, it is hard to know what to do at times to help the martins. I had never tried the supplemental feeding before, because our martins usually started to arrive mid-March to early April. This year the first one spent the night March 6th, and other martins showed up a few days later. Before the bad weather set in there were 9 or 10 martins roosting at our colony. I went ahead and ordered 1000 crickets a week ago, but they said they wouldn't be shipped until Monday. Our birds were going out of the houses each day, but I don't know if they were finding much food. I bought some crickets at a pet store on Monday, and was going to try tossing them, but our birds were staying holed-up in their rooms when they were here. I froze then thawed the crickets and put some on the roof of one of the martin houses that is lower than the others, so they could easily see them. I also put some martin decoys on the roof perch of the house in hope that they would draw the attention of the martins. When the birds came in that evening, one male started to land near the crickets but flew off. The others slipped quickly into their rooms.

The order of crickets came Wed. and I froze them. I had some ready to try and toss Wed. evening, but the martins that had been out went right into their rooms. Then we had snow overnight, and some of the entrances were blocked by the snow. I considered trying to use a long pole to knock the snow away from the entrances, but I didn't want to scare the birds out into the cold and snow, so didn't. By mid-day Thursday, the sun had come out, the snow was gone, and it appeared that the martins were out of the houses. I lowered one set of houses and gourds, and checked for birds, and they were gone. I put some crickets in a room I knew was being used, and put more on the porch. Then I lowered another house the martins had been roosting in, and they were also gone. I put crickets in those rooms and also on the porches. After 6 PM, the birds started returning, and they looked very active. They also ignored the crickets, so they must have gotten some food during the day.

This morning, some of the martins left the houses shortly after 7 AM, and others were still in their doorways until I had to leave. I did not see any martins eat a cricket, but a starling did discover them and was having a feast until I took his appetite away.

With the information that is available now, we ought to be prepared to help them when the weather conditions make it very difficult for them to find food. While there are no guarantees they will accept it, it is sure worth trying. And this can happen much later in the nesting season, as it did here in May of 1992, when there was five days of cool rainy weather and many nestlings and adults perished. So it is probably a good idea to keep some crickets or mealworms on hand, and just do the best you can to help the birds.

In the years that we have had martins, sometimes they just go away for a few days when cold weather comes. Whether they go to the river or a lake, I don't know, but they returned once conditions got better. Maybe between their instincts and people helping them, more will survive the crazy weather we have experienced this past week.

Good luck with your colony this year.

[RC Moser]

This is my opinion based on my experiences, others may dissagree. IMO wouldn't of bother them, they were trying to stay warm and saving energy IMO. I would of put a sock in the entry hole brought them in the house and put them in a cardboard box with at towel over it and feed them meal worms.

IMO if you not willing to bring them in out of the cold I wouldn't bother them, Flushing them out may of used up energy they may need the next day to find food when the weather breaks.

They will eat live meal worms when they get hungry enough, I seen this at a Bird recovery Farm, they had 5 PMs plus the one I brought in with broken wings and I has success one time a couple of years ago during a freezing rain episode that lasted 4 days.

Flushing them out in the cold is not a good Idea IMO. Others may disagree. I know it hard not to look in.

[~Patrick~]

My martins managed to make it through all the cold, windy weather, but I'm not sure they all stayed. I only had 10 to come to roost tonight. That's down from before the cold snap. I had one particularly aggressive ASY male tonight that fought everything that moved. I'm pretty sure he wasn't one of my resident birds. Right at dark he took off in a westerly direction and didn't even look back. So, all the extra activity I noticed a few mornings back must have moved on somewhere else. I sure hope this mild weather is here to stay. But just in case, I added extra pine needles to boxes and gourds.

Hoping spring is here for good for all of us...

Patrick

[Guest]

I found about 4 martins huddled in a gourd yesterday...they were piled up so I couldn't get an exact count. When I lowered the gourds today to check on them there was only one inside and he hadn't made it. Broke my heart. I had also fed boiled egg and crickets, which they ignored. I didn't see them flying around at all, so I'm not sure if they were out feeding or had moved on. It did warm up some today here in Tulsa, but will be pretty cold tonight. I'm not sure if I should start flipping crickets again since they ignored the ones that I put in their gourds.

[Guest]

I don't think the pair that I flushed out of the gourd this morning came back tonight. At least I didn't see them come in. No Martins could be seen in the sky all day. Then tonight just close to dusk 3 or 4 came back to the neighborhood and you could see them feeding somewhat successfully as they dart or suddenly change direction to catch a bug or two. Right at dusk the pair that I could see circling the house disappeared, probably to the neighbors. Then a lone male came swooping into one of my gourds just as it got dark. So, the usual 10 to 12 birds we accumulated up until Monday appear to have dropped back to 3 or 4 for the time being.

Thanks for all the comments about my situation.

Bud

[RC Moser]

Bud, they probably roosted somewhere else, If they like you site they will most likely return in a day or two. When the weather warms up In My Opinion (IMO) they are hunting for food first.