Let the Fun Begin--Huge subbie arrival

[John Barrow]

Hi Friends,

Yesterday evening in Port O'Connor, I witnessed the largest arrival of PM migrants that I have ever seen. Martins were coming in right before sunset in waves that continued until dark. While most overflew my colony to the other end of town, I estimate there were 500-1000 new arrivals that passed over.

This morning I read bands of 6 new arrivals, 1 2yoa SY male and 5 subbies. To put this in perspective, normally, I will be lucky to read 6 new bands at my two front yard systems in an entire season.

Those that I observed this morning were in excellent condition, more bent on playing home search than feeding. It appeared that the waves of martins were paralleling the coast, rather than crossing the Gulf of Mexico.

There should be a general filtering of this and similar arrivals throughout the southern US this week.

Best of luck to all who wait.
John

[Al Denton]

Please send one SY male to Raleigh... One that is tough and willing... One that ain't scared of nothing...One that a female will find hard to resist...ONE JUST LIKE THIS HOUSE FINCH THAT HAS FALLEN IN LOVE WITH MY COATES HOUSE. Send me one that is determined as I am...Send one that's ready to get the job done.

[Guest]

Hey John,

When the PMs migrate in, do they look like a they know where there going? I guess what I'm asking is.. do they look like other "flocks" of birds? Like we have Black birds- not Grackles, that fly over in the mornings.
Could you possible take a picture and post it? I know its a silly question, but I was just wondering what it looked like. When the get her, its usually one or two at a time.

Chuck

[Guest]

Send one that is a born leader and will inspire the colony to chase all the black birds, cowbirds and of course sparrows and starlings out of the area. We will call him Eisenhower, and he will run for president...

Ian

[apundt-TX]

Hey John! When can I expect them here in Dripping Springs. It's been pretty slow alround here at both sites.

A.P.

[Guest]

Hey Al & Haywire - Those are just great posts Hope both of you get plenty of subbies and may they be exacly what you are looking for


Lanell

[Al Denton]

And I will vote for him Haywire!.....Thanks Lanell. I haven't been following everybody this year, so I'm hoping you're having a good season so far. Al

[Jim Ray]

John, great!!!!!

I'm up to 7 extra ASY males, beyond my three pair. My second season is looking huge! Send 'em this way.

[John Barrow]

In reply:

Chuck,

Migrating martins do look a lot like migrating blackbirds, except they fly like martins--more gliding and sailing--and they are more spread out. I now have about 50 pairs of martins established in Port O'Connor-which is about 10 pairs from maxing me out. So I have about 100 martins that will return nightly. The females will often come in earlier and defend their cavities. Some of the males come in and others stay in the sky trying to lure in other martins.

When migration is heavy you have the home greeters trying to lure in a mass of martins, especially the females. The migrating martins hold to a true compass direction. Sometimes some will return toward my housing following the few males that are up, reverse position and resume migration. This might happen several times as a group passes over. Last night a returning group formed a ball of perhaps 150 martins that I thought might land on my housing. But the bulk continued in their north/northeast flight pattern. I believe the group as a whole will land at nightfall-and the vast numbers probably did before they crossed Matagorda bay, but the mass passed over my place last evening. Subbie arrivals this time of year are much heavier than ASY arrivals, but subbie arrivals will cease much quicker.

I did not take pictures last night. Louise owns the camera and she was not there. I have posted pictures in the past of 150-200 martins perched on my housing and think we have taken better pictures. I hope to do an article complete with pictures in an upcoming update.

By the way, we have also seen the large groups of which you speak of redwing blackbirds, grackles, doves and others that have already passed through-and many winter down here. We are starting to see scissortail flycatchers in large numbers, and will soon see the mass of broadwing hawks fly over in Corpus Christi-perhaps as many as half a million in a single day, along with the many warblers, and other beautiful songbbirds that nest to our north. One of my greatest sights was last year when I saw a dozen male painted buntings perched in a single tree. This is the beginning of heavy migration.

Jim Ray. Glad to hear of your successes. You have waited a long time and certainly paid your dues. I think a lot of what we are seeing is the result of a great 2003 nesting season, more informed landlords, and a lot of luck. I just hope the drought doesn't equate to a disaster this year. I wish you the best of success, always. jb

[Jim Ray]

Thanks. The drought has been terrible up here. You've probably heard about all our fires. Of course, the blackened ground will turn wonderful, if we can just get rain on it.

[Guest]

Hey Al - Yep I have 6 pairs this year up at the lake house. I hung 4 natural gourds and 2 S&K Big Bo. Five of the six are busy building their nests. The other pair doesn't seem interested yet. Hopefully, they will. I hope with the subbie migration I will pick up another couple of pairs.

I love to watch them build their nests. They land almost right at the bottom of the stairs of the porch and pick up their nesting material. It's interesting to say the least.

I also have 2 BB chicks for the first time in 3 years. What cuties. Won't be able to check on them the next time we go up for fear of making them fledge too early. They hatched on 4/1 so we named them April and Fool.

Good luck, Al!!!


Lanell

[Bob Buskas]

Thanks for this update John, I have always thought that our Northwestern Martins (Alberta) and other song birds take the shoreline migration route instead of crossing the gulf into Louisiana. Please keep us posted as often as you can. I think many of our Alberta Martins are migrating through your area now.

[Al Denton]

That's great Lanell...Then I know you're injoying your martins nest building!

Our mama BB is now sitting on 5 eggs. The earliest yet for eggs here. Al

[Guest]

This morning I read bands of 6 new arrivals, 1 2yoa SY male and 5 subbies. To put this in perspective, normally, I will be lucky to read 6 new bands at my two front yard systems in an entire season.

How the heck do you do that, John? How do you read 6 in one morning? I've spent a week now just trying to read 1 band! Of course, they say the hardest numbers to tell apart are '7' and '1' and the last 5 digits on my PM's band seem to be '71517'. I'm going crazy over here...

Thanks for the update!

Shel

[John Barrow]

Shel,

I have two great advantages. First I am reading from decks of a 3 story house with porches on levels 2 and 3, and looking at martins only 30 feet or so away. I do need a spotting scope 20-30 power to read the numbers.

More importantly, I am reading color bands. We have utilized purple bands with white lettering that have only 4 characters--3 numbers and an alpha character. The alpha character has been different for each age class over the past 3 years, and the first number will always be one of three possible numbers as we are banding with successive numbers from strings of 100. We have banded about 300 per year in Port O'Connor each of the past 3 years.

I agree the federal bands are hard to read. They are just etched letters without any color difference, and some are hard to read holding them in hand. The size 2 (larger) have 9 letters in a row--mine have all started with 1212 or 1222-followed by 5 numbers grouped in succession per string of 100. So I could pinpoint a location with the last 5 numbers, but I don't know what protocol were used on yours. It is my understanding that there is some common denominator to the first 4 numbers and the size of band, which would limit possibilities, but I don't know what it is. The other permissible size-1A- is smaller and has the two rows of numbers. This sounds like what you are seeing and I imagine it is hard to read. My banding mentor bands hummingbirds and I have been told that it is possible to read their bands by enhancing digital video footage of a hummingbird, but this is way out of my league. Most of his recaptures--and I believe he has established several records for wintering hummingbird returrns-are done with mist nets, where the band is read with bird in hand using jeweler's magnification glasses.

Good luck in your endeavor. Sounds like you've just about got it under control. And good luck with your season.
john

[Guest]

Shel, Here are a couple of size 2 bands.
What power scope are you using? At what distance? Get as close as you can and write (or even better have someone else do the writing) the numbers as you see them ; over and over again. I should not be too hard to figure out the number.

[Guest]

John,

I was visiting in Port OConnor this weekend and enjoyed the rush of watching the Port OConnor Martins pairing up! The PM supergourds on Maple street and the various houses set up along the beachfront park were just amazing!

Just wanted to say thanks to all the Port OConnor residents for sharing your martins by placing homes out in the front lawns for all of us 'weekend fools' to see!

We just had a few pairs arrive in Anderson last week (near College Station). Large flocks of Martins fly along the Navasota River, near SH 6, and run the gauntlet of Red Tailed Hawks that breed and rear young in this county.

I'm waiting with a fair amount of PMAnxiety to see who returns, who pairs up with whom, and I'm keeping a close eye on the microwave tower across the road for the dreaded Red Tailed Hawks that made lunch out of most of the larger males last year. I'm wringing my hands over it.

Your birds in Port OConnor were a thrill.

Keep us posted.

Sarah

[klcretired]

send some my way john,
I still have vacant rooms available,lol,lol,lol. I have 31 martins right now but can handle more with the housing & gourd rack that i have up, if need be i can also add to both my housing and /or Gourd rack.
as always ,Thanks for the Heads up report.

[Sue]

John, I know I am just one among many folks who appreciate your arrival reports. Thanks for taking time to post.

[Jim Ray]

Those bands are interesting...with the 800 number on the outside. Is that a Canadian thing? I do see USA on them; are they old style? All the sizes of US bands that I've handled, the 800 number is on the inside.