Great Crested Flycatcher

Guest · Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:31 pm

I had a bout with starlings, which is for the time being at least in a lull after killing the female. I haven't seen one around for over a week now but remain watchful.
This morning while watching my two ASY pairs building nests I noticed a bird checking out gourds on the other pole. The gourds on this one had been closed for some time while I successfully tranfered TS's to a gourd on a Sheppard's Crook, and has just four gourds on it open to entice more martins. I'm quite sure this bird to be a Great Crested Flycatcher. The TS's ran him off after a short time he returned and they ran him off again. That was early this morning and I haven't seen him since. Should I expect more visits and will the flycatcher's presence affect my chances for more martins? I believe they are cavity nesters.

Just an hour ago or so a new female has showed up and is vigoursly checking out empty gourds. I have one very aggressive ASY male that has kept subbie males out of the gourds on his rack, but she's gone in and out of all the empty ones with no response from him. What are my chances that she'll stick around and bring in a mate?

Mary Dawnsong · Mon May 01, 2006 7:53 am

Hi,

I have no experience with Great Crested Flycatchers, but there are some excellent older posts on this forum about them. Click on:

http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=210

http://purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=38422

Regarding your new ASY female martin...
A female who checks out all the cavities is definitely interested and could stay. No ASY male is likely to chase off a female!

Good luck to you this season,
Mary

Guest · Mon May 01, 2006 12:01 pm

Thanks for the flycatcher links, I'll peruse them shortly. My new female stayed the night last night and hopefully will return again tonight. I've had several subbie males hanging around and with luck, she'll hook up soon.

Guest · Wed May 03, 2006 7:42 am

She returned last night with one of the SY males frequenting my site and another apparently single female. The two females competed for his attention for awhile, poor guy, with one female ulimately leaving and the new pair going into gourds. I've got my fingers crossed the other female will return soon and bring a "friend".

Guest · Thu May 04, 2006 2:09 pm

Arrived home yesterday afternoon to find 4 SY males and 4 new females all over the poles and unclaimed gourds. THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!

Guest · Mon May 08, 2006 9:36 am

One more starling has perished from acute lead poisoning and yesterday a total 5 pairs of Martins came into the gourds for the night. I've put up a pole with a single gourd on it right next to a large oak tree in hopes of luring starlings away from the gourd racks. It's much closer to the house and in easier range for dealing with them. So far no more starlings near either location.