Purple Martin Update?April 18, 2006
Purple martins continue to arrive at our colonies in northwest Louisiana though the rate is slowing some now. We are now primarily getting SY martins though an occasional ASY male will show up and try his luck to gain territory and ultimately a mate.
On April 10, 2006 I had about 114 pairs of martins in my second year colony. As of April 18, 2006, I have about 130 pairs, give or take several. So in about a week I gained around 16 new pairs of martins. The breakdown by maturation status is about 115 ASY pairs and 15 SY pairs. Martins, particularly SYs, will nest throughout April and much of May in northwest Louisiana, so there is time to attract more birds to my colony. I believe I can attract around 150 pairs of martins this second year.
I am offering 218 cavities including natural gourds, Supergourds, Troyer horizontals, Trios and Lone Star aluminum houses. All housing has round holes. So there are still plenty of cavities available. My natural gourds that maximize vertical/horizontal depth continue to be the most popular cavities with all my vertically deep woodpecker gourds and horizontals with offset holes full. However, I am pleased that the Troyer horizontals are doing well, too and I plan to expand my use of them next year. And I am also pleased that my multi-compartment houses are now finally getting more martins. The dominant pairs are slowly relinquishing some of their territory and some newcomers are managing to secure a nest site. But the gourds continue to have a significantly higher occupancy rate than houses. The territorial privacy provided by gourds maximizes occupancy levels while many multi-compartment houses encourage male martin nest domination behavior.
Bob probably has about the same number of martin pairs so we have over 250 pairs of martins in residence. There are two super martin colonies side by side in northwest Louisiana!
Today, April 18, 2006 at around 10:35 am something most unpleasant occurred. I expected it would happen as I just can?t protect the martins in both colonies all the time though I have managed to save their lives many times. Unfortunately, a beautiful male martin from Bob?s colony was killed by an immature female (judging from the size) migratory sharp-shinned hawk. Just seconds before the killing, all the martins in our colonies started screaming and climbing at terrific speeds. I mean blood curdling screams. This was the real thing and I knew either an Accipiter hawk or merlin was diving down on our martins. I rushed into my front yard and tried to determine where the killer was; martins were flying in all directions. I looked over at Bob?s colony and his martins were going berserk and circling the site like a feathered vortex. I figured a hawk was sitting on his gourd crossbars, but I saw nothing. I finally looked underneath one of his gourd racks and there it was: a sharp-shinned hawk on the ground! Yes, I knew she had a martin pinned there though I couldn?t see anything. I simply can?t just sit back and watch a hawk butcher a martin. I rushed over and scared the hawk away and on the ground was a dead bloody male martin. Blood was all over his chest and coming out of his mouth.
I have seen so many martins killed by Accipiter hawks over the years as these raptors continue to grow in population, expand their breeding ranges and learn to associate martin housing with food. This is particularly true of the Cooper?s hawk which is flourishing in many areas and nesting in suburban/urban settings. I suspect these hawks predate martin colonies as they migrate all the way back to their breeding grounds. And completely open colony sites, like ours, are NOT immune to Accipiter hawk predation. These hawks learn strategies to hunt martins in such locations, including diving like falcons on fleeing martins, flushing martins from housing, sitting on gourd crossbars/house perches and nailing the martins the moment they leave, and sneaking into the colonies during the dim light conditions of the evenings and early mornings and catching martins off guard.
The male martins continue to dawn sing and they put on a nice show this morning. Some of the males will dawn sing while sitting in the entrances of their gourds or on the gourd crossbars or house perches. This is suicidal behavior when barred or great horned owls are predating a martin colony. But I am inside the colony during this dangerous time for martins and a security light illuminates me. So far, no owls have dared to visit while I am there!
More of the female martins are laying eggs and incubating full clutches. I am collecting data on this and hope to start posting information soon.
Martins continue to carry leaves to their nests. This includes green ones that the martins collect from tree tops and dry oak leaves that I provide on the ground underneath the housing.
I expect our first martin babies to hatch around the first week of May.
Hope everyone is having a great martin season. Stay tuned for more updates from northwest Louisiana.
Steve
Purple Martin Update...April 18, 2006
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klcretired
- Posts: 2174
- Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:06 am
- Location: Grand Prairie,Tx
Steve,
Like you , I also have made myself visible at nite underneath my housing & Gourd rack standing watch to prevent any Owl attacks , a few year's back i had a Great Horned hangin around but i scared him off a couple of times and i haven't seen him since , each time i saw him was like 4 in the morning, my neigbor behind me has a two story house where i caught him perched watching my colony, also i had some smaller Owls probly barred Owls do a few fly by's...but i was present so nothing happened.I am glad that your Colony is doing so well and we wish you continued success, thanks for the updates we all appreciate them.
Like you , I also have made myself visible at nite underneath my housing & Gourd rack standing watch to prevent any Owl attacks , a few year's back i had a Great Horned hangin around but i scared him off a couple of times and i haven't seen him since , each time i saw him was like 4 in the morning, my neigbor behind me has a two story house where i caught him perched watching my colony, also i had some smaller Owls probly barred Owls do a few fly by's...but i was present so nothing happened.I am glad that your Colony is doing so well and we wish you continued success, thanks for the updates we all appreciate them.
Pictures Taken with Canon Rebel XT Digital using a Sigma 50-500 Long Lens.
Wishing everyone a Great Martin Year
Happy Martining for 2022 to everyone,
K.C.
[email protected]
Wishing everyone a Great Martin Year
Happy Martining for 2022 to everyone,
K.C.
[email protected]
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John Atteberry
Hello Steve,
Sorry to hear about the hawk attack! But those are great super colony numbers! I had a pair of subbies that came in last week and then for the past two days there has been a female subbie hanging around trying to find a male but there is none here yet! Then tonight three more subbies came in to roost! I couldn't tell what sex they were but hopefully a male is here!!! One of them flew out of here because of not finding a hole but the good news is I'm starting to see some subbies coming in! 14 pairs so far and 35 eggs so far! None of the females sitting yet though! Thanks and good luck Steve! Thanks for the update too and I always look for your updates! John!
Sorry to hear about the hawk attack! But those are great super colony numbers! I had a pair of subbies that came in last week and then for the past two days there has been a female subbie hanging around trying to find a male but there is none here yet! Then tonight three more subbies came in to roost! I couldn't tell what sex they were but hopefully a male is here!!! One of them flew out of here because of not finding a hole but the good news is I'm starting to see some subbies coming in! 14 pairs so far and 35 eggs so far! None of the females sitting yet though! Thanks and good luck Steve! Thanks for the update too and I always look for your updates! John!
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Carlton
- Posts: 1959
- Joined: Tue May 17, 2005 6:42 pm
- Location: Florida/Deerfield Beach
- Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
I always enjoy reading your entries Steve. Most informative!
You have hundreds of martins and I have none, so far, or MAYBE one! The past two days I have had one lone ASY male hanging around and checking out my modified Trio Grandma. He has not even looked at my Supergourds or Troyer Horizontals as far as I know. Still waiting for the SY migration to arrive in this area. I play the Dawnsong starting at 4AM and leave it on pretty much all day. I also put the 3M Outdoor Tread nonslip tape on the decks of the Trio Grandma to assist him in getting through the SREH's.
Sorry to hear about the hawk attack. That is so frustrating. I had a Coopers Hawk here this winter attacking birds at my feeder. They are very crafty! I wish they would go after starlings and house sparrows! To be honest though, they appear to be mainly after the redwinged blackbirds here which are quite numerous although they did kill one of my mockingbirds as well. I hope that Mother Nature has some controls on the Cooper's population as we have enough of them now! Everyone says that they are migrating but wouldn't they have cleared your area of the country now if they were migrating northwards? I am way up in coastal Delaware and I had the Coopers all winter.
Carl
You have hundreds of martins and I have none, so far, or MAYBE one! The past two days I have had one lone ASY male hanging around and checking out my modified Trio Grandma. He has not even looked at my Supergourds or Troyer Horizontals as far as I know. Still waiting for the SY migration to arrive in this area. I play the Dawnsong starting at 4AM and leave it on pretty much all day. I also put the 3M Outdoor Tread nonslip tape on the decks of the Trio Grandma to assist him in getting through the SREH's.
Sorry to hear about the hawk attack. That is so frustrating. I had a Coopers Hawk here this winter attacking birds at my feeder. They are very crafty! I wish they would go after starlings and house sparrows! To be honest though, they appear to be mainly after the redwinged blackbirds here which are quite numerous although they did kill one of my mockingbirds as well. I hope that Mother Nature has some controls on the Cooper's population as we have enough of them now! Everyone says that they are migrating but wouldn't they have cleared your area of the country now if they were migrating northwards? I am way up in coastal Delaware and I had the Coopers all winter.
Carl
Hello Steve, Sorry to hear about the male martin, I know that it is nature
but I don't like it!!!
Thats going to take some time doing those nest checks! I have not done any nest checks yet, but I have 5 pair that are incubating eggs and 2 pair that just started laying and 1 pair that are still building. I had 18 martins 9 pair I thought but I guess 1 pair was just passing threw, they were only here a couple of days. I have a question about a owl that has just showed up the last couple of days. Monday night I was woke up my a owl
hooting outside my window, I jumped up out of bed and went out the back door, this was at 12:30 at night. I walked in the back around my colony but I never saw the owl. Then last night when we came in from town about 10:00 at night I saw the owl fly off of a low hanging pecan limb where we have a night light. He flew up into a scrub oak, I found a feather from him on the ground under my pecan tree this morning. My husband said that he was more than likely hunting frogs and mice. I'm not sure what kind of owl this is, but what time is the best to be seen outside to maybe discourage him? And thanks for the updates love to read them.
but I don't like it!!!
Thats going to take some time doing those nest checks! I have not done any nest checks yet, but I have 5 pair that are incubating eggs and 2 pair that just started laying and 1 pair that are still building. I had 18 martins 9 pair I thought but I guess 1 pair was just passing threw, they were only here a couple of days. I have a question about a owl that has just showed up the last couple of days. Monday night I was woke up my a owl
hooting outside my window, I jumped up out of bed and went out the back door, this was at 12:30 at night. I walked in the back around my colony but I never saw the owl. Then last night when we came in from town about 10:00 at night I saw the owl fly off of a low hanging pecan limb where we have a night light. He flew up into a scrub oak, I found a feather from him on the ground under my pecan tree this morning. My husband said that he was more than likely hunting frogs and mice. I'm not sure what kind of owl this is, but what time is the best to be seen outside to maybe discourage him? And thanks for the updates love to read them.
April McClelland
PMCA Member
PMCA Member
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Steve Kroenke
- Posts: 4342
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 6:49 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Logansport
Hey Kenny,
Yes, maintaining a visible presence during the critical early morning hours will often keep owls from raiding your martin colony. Never let the owl make that first kill. If he/she does, then the owls nearly always keep returning for more martins.
My martin colony continues to flourish. I hope your colony is thriving, too.
Steve
Hey John,
I sure enjoy hearing about your successful colony! Your colony continues to grow! More SYs are arriving in our area and our male martins put on an incredible dawn singing show this morning. The Louisiana sky was filled with singing martins! Your females are really producing the eggs and soon they will be incubating. I have many eggs in my housing, too, and a few females are incubating full clutches. One of these female?s mates will sit in the entrance of his funnel gourd and dawn sing like crazy! He was doing this today. Then he flies out and joins his colony mates high in the sky. Keep us informed about your colony. Continued great success with your martins.
Steve
Hey Carl,
I certainly hope you get martins this year. You have done a good job preparing your colony site and providing quality housing. You should have until probably mid-June to attract martins to your colony, so there is plenty of time. May should be a ?big? month for the SYs in your area.
Most of our migratory hawk/falcon attacks occur in late March through April and into early May so we still have some time to go. Then in June/July our resident Cooper?s hawks start feeding on the fledgling martins. The resident hawks primarily predate the martin fledglings because they are easy to catch. The parent martins mob the hawks, but the hawks largely ignore these bluff attacks. Great horned owls and larger hawks will prey on Cooper?s hawks so the Accipiters have to be careful!
Glad you enjoy my updates and I will try to provide one weekly. Good luck with your colony.
Steve
Hey April,
Yes, it is part of nature, but we martin landlords have a hard accepting it in our yards!
The owl is either a barred or great horned. The barred has a round head and hoots like some demon from the underworld! The great horned has ear tufts and has a ?wimpish? hoot for such a fierce nocturnal predator! I would guess you probably have a barred owl as they are very common in south Georgia where you live.
Owls often initially find martin colonies either just at dusk when the martins are active and vocal or early in the mornings when the males are singing. You may want to ?put your martins to bed? and stay around the colony site until dark. Your presence may discourage any owl that may be watching and listening from a distance. Another good time is between 4:00 am and 6:00 am or until dawn. Of course, you have to be an early riser for that! The male martins are often singing early in the nesting season at this time, including dawn singing, and the owls can hear them. However, I have discovered that the male martins will sporadically vocalize all during the night, so if an owl was nearby, he/she may be attracted by the call.
Hopefully, ?your? owl is hunting for mice/frogs, however, both barred and great horned owls will readily eat roosting birds including raiding nests.
I am glad your colony is doing well. You still have all of April and probably part of May to possibly attract more martins to your site. Glad you like my updates and I will keep them coming.
Steve
Yes, maintaining a visible presence during the critical early morning hours will often keep owls from raiding your martin colony. Never let the owl make that first kill. If he/she does, then the owls nearly always keep returning for more martins.
My martin colony continues to flourish. I hope your colony is thriving, too.
Steve
Hey John,
I sure enjoy hearing about your successful colony! Your colony continues to grow! More SYs are arriving in our area and our male martins put on an incredible dawn singing show this morning. The Louisiana sky was filled with singing martins! Your females are really producing the eggs and soon they will be incubating. I have many eggs in my housing, too, and a few females are incubating full clutches. One of these female?s mates will sit in the entrance of his funnel gourd and dawn sing like crazy! He was doing this today. Then he flies out and joins his colony mates high in the sky. Keep us informed about your colony. Continued great success with your martins.
Steve
Hey Carl,
I certainly hope you get martins this year. You have done a good job preparing your colony site and providing quality housing. You should have until probably mid-June to attract martins to your colony, so there is plenty of time. May should be a ?big? month for the SYs in your area.
Most of our migratory hawk/falcon attacks occur in late March through April and into early May so we still have some time to go. Then in June/July our resident Cooper?s hawks start feeding on the fledgling martins. The resident hawks primarily predate the martin fledglings because they are easy to catch. The parent martins mob the hawks, but the hawks largely ignore these bluff attacks. Great horned owls and larger hawks will prey on Cooper?s hawks so the Accipiters have to be careful!
Glad you enjoy my updates and I will try to provide one weekly. Good luck with your colony.
Steve
Hey April,
Yes, it is part of nature, but we martin landlords have a hard accepting it in our yards!
The owl is either a barred or great horned. The barred has a round head and hoots like some demon from the underworld! The great horned has ear tufts and has a ?wimpish? hoot for such a fierce nocturnal predator! I would guess you probably have a barred owl as they are very common in south Georgia where you live.
Owls often initially find martin colonies either just at dusk when the martins are active and vocal or early in the mornings when the males are singing. You may want to ?put your martins to bed? and stay around the colony site until dark. Your presence may discourage any owl that may be watching and listening from a distance. Another good time is between 4:00 am and 6:00 am or until dawn. Of course, you have to be an early riser for that! The male martins are often singing early in the nesting season at this time, including dawn singing, and the owls can hear them. However, I have discovered that the male martins will sporadically vocalize all during the night, so if an owl was nearby, he/she may be attracted by the call.
Hopefully, ?your? owl is hunting for mice/frogs, however, both barred and great horned owls will readily eat roosting birds including raiding nests.
I am glad your colony is doing well. You still have all of April and probably part of May to possibly attract more martins to your site. Glad you like my updates and I will keep them coming.
Steve