Are 2nd year scouts slower to arrive ?

[John Kendall]

I am a sophmore landlord, with one subbie pair last year with eggs that failed to hatch, but ther birds stayed right on into early august, including a couple of other subbie males. Was counting on their return.

I have TS each year, and this year, had to keep the house and particularly, the gourds the PM's nested and rooseted in closed to get TS forced into the bluebird nest box first. I put the house up april5, which is about right for here, although closed up at first. On april 13, I opened a couple of SREH holes on the house just in case they showed up.

Have not seen my martins return. TS have a well-feathered nest and eggs immiment. 2 questions:
1. Have I lost my PM's and basically trying to recruit subbies, like last year?
2. Do 2nd year scouts and females tend to arrive a little slower than the older ones?

[Bob]

JK,

I am not an expert on this, but I can go by experience. I am not sure when they showed up at your place last year, but I am guessing you should she your martins any day now.

I had my first pair 3 yrs ago. SY male showe up in late May and SY female early June, they raised two successfully. Next year, I was expecting them back as ASY pair, but instead, I wound up with a SY pair that showed up in early May and 3 bachelor males. Last year, I wound up with 17 pairs.

Give it a litlle time....if those single males hung around for most of the summer, they will be back!

Good Luck and keep us posted.

Bob

[Mary Dawnsong]

Generally, the older the bird the earlier it returns to the breeding site.

There is a terrific PMCA Update article written by Dr. Eugene S Morton on this topic. One of his findings is that 2-year-old birds return significantly later than other ASYs.

http://purplemartin.org/update/Age-spec ... s12(2).pdf

And here's a chart from that article (in case you don't have acrobat reader):

[John Kendall]

Thanks, Mary Dawnsong! Our earliest martins here in N Indianan come early april, and the chart says that the average male is up to 14 days later, so, my birds could be arriving any day. I still don't have TS eggs as of today, but, I hope I can open the gourds very soon.
This info gives me some comfort.