After 1 day with little or no feeding, the temp made it to 50 degrees today with little rain and little wind. The martins have been able to make it out for off and on feeding. Yesterday they all just stayed in their gourds for the most part and only flew off when I walked under the gourd racks to check on things and when I set out some scrambled eggs (which they did not take from the raised feeder). Yesterday throughout the day there were 3 little guys who had trouble gaining access to any of the gourds. Seems the resident males were still trying to claim more than one gourd, despite the weather. I felt bad and put up a gourd on a shepherd's hook about 10ft from one of the gourd racks...it is only up up 8ft off the ground and 1 male kept flying up to it, but I never saw him enter the gourd. This morning, I noticed 2 different males were going in and out of the gourd. I really just set it up as emergency shelter. I hope they do not want to claim it as a nesting cavity....Tomorrow is suppose to be about 6 to 8 degrees warmer, but still a good chance of rain. I hope and pray they get more feeding time in tomorrow.
Hope everyone else that is being affected by this weather system has healthy residents.
Finally a day with a little feeding time
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Bob Flam
Hi Bob,
It's 46, windy, and cloudy here. Mine haven't left the housing yet. A couple are outside at least sitting on the perching pole and porchs. I think their hoping...
This stupid system just keeps spinning overhead. If it doesn't move out tomorrow or Monday, I fear theres gunna be martins dieing all over the upper midwest.
bob
It's 46, windy, and cloudy here. Mine haven't left the housing yet. A couple are outside at least sitting on the perching pole and porchs. I think their hoping...
This stupid system just keeps spinning overhead. If it doesn't move out tomorrow or Monday, I fear theres gunna be martins dieing all over the upper midwest.
bob
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Frank Hargis-IL
- Posts: 121
- Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2003 5:22 pm
- Location: Illinois/Flora
Bob,
It's been bad here too! The heck of it is our eggs started hatching the first of the week. I'm feeding mealworms but am still worried about the babies.
Temp finally made it up to 54 this afternoon with a little sun once in awhile but the wind is still blowing. Most of the birds are gone right now so I'm hoping they are finding something to eat.
Luck,
Frank
It's been bad here too! The heck of it is our eggs started hatching the first of the week. I'm feeding mealworms but am still worried about the babies.
Temp finally made it up to 54 this afternoon with a little sun once in awhile but the wind is still blowing. Most of the birds are gone right now so I'm hoping they are finding something to eat.
Luck,
Frank
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Guest
Hello neighbor,
It has been terrible out for the last couple days. I put some mealworms in three compartments yesterday. A ladder and a golf ball retriever. Put a small cup on the end of it and the made a shute. Climbed the ladder from the side and slid them right in. They were out this morning for a little while. I have seen one pair caring in green leaves, before the weather turned bad. I lowered quick this morning to see if had any eggs. No eggs yet and two of the three nest had no mealworms left.
I have seen a couple other martins stopping bye. Had son's travel league Baseball (double header) today. Didn't get home till after dark. Have to keep and eye out for some sy's maybe.
I hope it is better tomorrow. They need to get out and feed and hopefully bring a few others back
Bob, how many are you up to now?
continued success!
Craig
It has been terrible out for the last couple days. I put some mealworms in three compartments yesterday. A ladder and a golf ball retriever. Put a small cup on the end of it and the made a shute. Climbed the ladder from the side and slid them right in. They were out this morning for a little while. I have seen one pair caring in green leaves, before the weather turned bad. I lowered quick this morning to see if had any eggs. No eggs yet and two of the three nest had no mealworms left.
I have seen a couple other martins stopping bye. Had son's travel league Baseball (double header) today. Didn't get home till after dark. Have to keep and eye out for some sy's maybe.
I hope it is better tomorrow. They need to get out and feed and hopefully bring a few others back
Bob, how many are you up to now?
continued success!
Craig
Hi Craig,
I feel so sorry for all of them....they managed to do a little hungting in the late am and throughout the afternoon.....they were gone for short trips then back to the gourds the went. They were still doing a little squabbling over gourds, so it is my hope they are getting some bugs.
I need to try and get a count once the weather clears up and warms up. On Friday when I set out some eggs and mealworms for them, they started flying out of the gourds. I could not believe all of them. In the sky there must have been around 40 or more. I think a few SY's must have showed up in the past couple of days or I have a few from someone elses site. I also have a small set up near a pond about 1/4 mile from my site (old modified PMC 24 with 6 gourds under it). I had only had one ASY male there prior to this weather system set in, but yesterday I noticed little martin heads peeping out of 5 of the 6 gourds. I think they have better hunting by the pond, especially since there is a lot of trees around to block any strong winds.
I am sure hoping this system breaks up very soon....for the past 2 1/2 days I have been worrying non-stop about them....
Best of luck!
Bob
I feel so sorry for all of them....they managed to do a little hungting in the late am and throughout the afternoon.....they were gone for short trips then back to the gourds the went. They were still doing a little squabbling over gourds, so it is my hope they are getting some bugs.
I need to try and get a count once the weather clears up and warms up. On Friday when I set out some eggs and mealworms for them, they started flying out of the gourds. I could not believe all of them. In the sky there must have been around 40 or more. I think a few SY's must have showed up in the past couple of days or I have a few from someone elses site. I also have a small set up near a pond about 1/4 mile from my site (old modified PMC 24 with 6 gourds under it). I had only had one ASY male there prior to this weather system set in, but yesterday I noticed little martin heads peeping out of 5 of the 6 gourds. I think they have better hunting by the pond, especially since there is a lot of trees around to block any strong winds.
I am sure hoping this system breaks up very soon....for the past 2 1/2 days I have been worrying non-stop about them....
Best of luck!
Bob