Bad Day. Have a Question
The wind has been blowing here on Mobile bay all day!! We are having gusts to 30+ MPH. Several of my gourds are blowing around so much that the eggs are falling to the ground. My question is, if a pair of PMs lose all their eggs will they lay another clutch? I have not been able to check the nests yet and would think that if a pair still has at least one egg left they will raise that one. But what do they do if they lose them all? I think this may be the case in 2-3 of my gourds. The nests in the houses seem to be fine. I will hopefully be able to check some time tomorrow. However, the wind is suppose to be high then as well. Is anyone else having this problem? Next year I am going to adjust the gourds so that they do not swing as much.
-
Mary Dawnsong
- Posts: 1685
- Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 8:17 pm
- Location: Michigan, Livingston County
Hi Tiger,
Sorry to hear about the bad day.
I've never had that kind of problem with gourds, but mine sway rather than swing - they are mounted with thick, stiff, wire. I also use all SuperGourds now; they are vey heavy and don't move as much as my natural gourds did.
Yes, martin pairs will often renest when they lose their clutch.
In 2000, a pair of starlings tossed out almost all the eggs in my colony. Most pairs laid a replacement clutch and I had a successful season.
In late May 2002, we had 1 solid week of no-hunting weather and incubation halted. Many pairs laid a new clutch to replace bad eggs (but a surprising number of pairs hatched their original clutch, extending the normal 16 day incubation by an extra week or more!)
There is a useful PMCA Update article "How to Tell When Martins are Making a Renesting Attempt". Click on:
http://purplemartin.org/update/12(3)RenestAttempt.pdf
Good luck with the rest of your season,
Mary
Sorry to hear about the bad day.
I've never had that kind of problem with gourds, but mine sway rather than swing - they are mounted with thick, stiff, wire. I also use all SuperGourds now; they are vey heavy and don't move as much as my natural gourds did.
Yes, martin pairs will often renest when they lose their clutch.
In 2000, a pair of starlings tossed out almost all the eggs in my colony. Most pairs laid a replacement clutch and I had a successful season.
In late May 2002, we had 1 solid week of no-hunting weather and incubation halted. Many pairs laid a new clutch to replace bad eggs (but a surprising number of pairs hatched their original clutch, extending the normal 16 day incubation by an extra week or more!)
There is a useful PMCA Update article "How to Tell When Martins are Making a Renesting Attempt". Click on:
http://purplemartin.org/update/12(3)RenestAttempt.pdf
Good luck with the rest of your season,
Mary
Click here to see my colony
"In Michigan every martin matters"
"In Michigan every martin matters"