How far do PM's travel from their colony site?

[Guest]

I have one nesting pair only I believe. I had 3 Sy's as well but they gradually seemed to disappear one by one. I was watching last night between 7 and 8PM to see if any of the SY's would be returning to roost.The pair seem to be somewht home bound. I'm going to do a nest check tomorrow morning.

I noticed two birds kinda look over my little shanty and then move on and then two came in as singles and they two moved on as well. There was a little chatter going on between my pair at the time I don't know if it was between them or for the flyby folks.

I know of no other housing in my general area,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I suppose there could be many that are like mine. It is visable from the street but only if you know its there and then are looking for it.

dick

[Mary Dawnsong]

I suspect the answer is highly variable, depending on the local environment, weather, and insect supply.

A routine hunting trip to catch a dragonfly for nestlings is usually between 1/2 mile and 1 mile at my site. If conditions are windy, I believe they fly to a smaller, more sheltered lake about 1 1/2 miles away. And each parent makes many hunting trips each hour.

Before they have eggs or nestlings the colony will travel as a group to a favorite hunting site away from the colony. They may fly many miles to reach that site, where they spend much of the day feeding and socializing with martins from other colonies. A couple of years ago a South Dakota landlord wrote that she followed her martins and found their hunting site. As I recall, it was a small lake and it was about 15 miles away from her home.