Colony Update - Arnold, Mo.

[Bob Rogers]

Sun and warmer weather (70's) around St. Louis and vicinity. Martins looked very weary at sun-up, but were chirping for the 1st time in weeks. Within several hours of sunshine, several PM's started taking green leaves into their cavities. I did loose several PM's, but I'm really shocked more dead/dying PM's were not found --- with the last several weeks of constant rain and chilly weather. These birds NEVER cease to amaze me --- such endurance for such a gentle bird! I believe my colony looses will be minimal, provided additional sunny days allow the PM's to gain back their lost weight. Wish several rainy weeks would make me thin Here's hoping all other midwest colonies will pull through. Good Luck.

[Don & Danielle]

Hi Bob...

I wish my colony had faired as well as yours. We had around 40 PMs, with some eggs already laid & lots of leaves in most of our gourds. I have never tried supplemental feeding, and I was hoping they would all pull through this stretch of bad weather.

I should have done more than just hope. Monday, my wife & I found 16 dead PMs on the ground or in our housing. I did see 6-8 birds flying around tonite, but my gourd rack still seems like a ghost-town compared to a week or two ago. It all seemed to happen so fast, but I must admit I was doing a poor job of monitoring the birds this past week.

I will make sure to never passively sit-through weather like this again. I'll make sure to try to teach my birds to accept supplemental food.

Don & Danielle

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Bob,

I am glad most of your martins survived the weather ordeal. Other folks in the mid-west did sustain significant losses it appears. We had about 4 or 5 days of rainy cold weather back in February and I was concerned about our colonies. But the martins survived. Hoping you have a fantastic martin season.

Steve

[Craig Haddox]

Bob, Glad to here your losses were minimal. I lost 2 ASY males and 1 SY male pluss 4 newborn's. I hope everything goes great the rest of the way.

[Show-Me-Mike]

:)Bob, It's been gloomy in Farmington for most of May with rain, wind, cool weather. (50's) I had 18+ martins the first of the month and this past Monday (5/15/) was the most critical day yet. I did a nest check and all eggs were cold. I also found 18 martins in 1(one) compartment huddled together. I knew that they could not remain this way for long without suffocating, plus they could not maneuver to exit the Conley Excluder entry. So I carefully removed all one by one by hand. It was still cool and rainy but I had no other choice. Yesterday evening(5/16) was depressing as I watched only 5-6 martins return after a long day of hunting insects. Today (5/17) was sunny and warming into the 70's for the first time in this area in several weeks. I inspected all nests and found no dead martins and removed all eggs that I knew had no chance of hatching due to non-incubation. Tonight I anxiously waited for the martins to return and saw absolutely none around the houses or until around 8:15 p.m. Then one by one 12-14 martins returned happily chirping and playing and without hesitation bedded down for the night. Needless to say, I was delighted as I had expected the worst. I should count my blessings. Best wishes to all!