Temperatures for insects to fly........

[Mary Wilson-SW Ont]

This is in response to Bailey, but thought it might also be useful for others as a separate post.

50 degrees, sunny, no wind = bugs.
50 degrees, overcast, strong wind = no bugs (or very few)

Many people now are aware of the need, and are willing to provide supplemental feeding, but something that may not be well understood is the variations in the weather that affect the natural food source. Following their long migration, the earliest returning birds can be vulnerable to starvation even when the often-stated temperature threshold of 50 degrees is reached. While it is true that some microclimates can exist, even at slightly below 50 degrees, where bugs are slightly more plentiful, one of the biggest considerations is how much energy must they expend to find the few bugs that might be flying? For instance where I live we have observed TS feeding around large greenhouse installations. Some insects are there, but the non-stop foraging may expend as much energy as they gain. Some things to consider are: for birds that have just arrived, what conditions have they come through, and what conditions greet their arrival? For the extreme southern states, new arrivals have just crossed the gulf, and are exhausted. If the weather is in the 50’s but windy, overcast, or drizzly, they will have to really search far and wide for food and may not have the energy to do so. In conditions like this, a few flung crickets, or crickets placed in a feeder tray, may make the difference. If they arrive in poor weather which then persists for a few days, they don’t have a chance to restock their energy. I speak from hard experience. In the terrible spring of May 2002, our birds had made the long migration back to southwestern Ontario. They then survived about a month of less than ideal conditions (weather that seemed fine to me - many days in the 50 degree range, but as I later understood, not enough days of good conditions). They found enough food to stay alive, but probably had to expend so much energy finding it that they never really regained full strength. When the long weekend of sleet and low temperatures hit, they had no reserves to see them through. If the previous month had been optimal conditions, most of them probably would have been strong enough by then to survive that long weekend. Much of this is hindsight understanding, and it happened before we began supplemental feeding, but now I always have crickets in the freezer before the martins arrive. It buys tremendous peace of mind. I've learned to watch the temperature, but also amount of wind, wind direction, cloudiness, and how many days since the last “optimal” day. What kind of weather have they endured south of us – have they just been getting by, or have they had good conditions. Please consider all the variables - not just temperature – it is only part of the story.

[Guest]

Hi Mary,

What a great informative post. I know that I am glued to my hourly weather website in the spring before and after the martins arrive, but have not checked the forecast along their migration route. I will now include that so I will be covering all bases. Better to be safe than sorry, i say.

thx
AJ

[Bob Flam]

Hi Mary,

Great Post! I believe I remember that year down here in Iowa also. It's when I was trying to get them started on supplemental feeding. I lost some birds too. And even since most took to it in the last few years, I still lost a couple birds a few weeks after they arrived.

I seen a sy male that showed up a month after the ASY's arrived, the weather was wet/windy marginal for like 3 days or so and the ASY's were all just sitting around...relaxing...saving energy. But the Sy male was wound up for those 1st few days because he just got through his migration and got to the colony. He was showing off for girls and flying around wasting energy. He died.

I recommend getting them trained on eating supplemental food no matter what! Now mine are so used to it, I feed them from the time they arrive until they leave in August. They will always take some even that late. I don't offer it as much, but they'll still take a little when I do.

I try to keep them trained to it all year. And it's worked great!

Good post Mary, good to here from you...

bob

[MichelleB]

Hi Mary...Thanks for a wonderful post...I was of the impression that 40*
was the "breaking" point. I have 10 asy's at the moment & am feeding
them daily. I appreciate your"bugology" post..
Joe Lefebvre Baton Rouge La

[Scott D.- La]

Hey Mary,very informative,I have not seen many insects since the bad front, a couple a weeks ago.Hope to have a warm up next week.

[Mary Wilson-SW Ont]

Anne,
I know what you mean about being glued to the weather forecast. When the martins arrive I am constantly keeping a watch on temps, and the other things I mentioned. Better to be safe than sorry, I agree with you, I was a sorry mess that weekend when we lost them and I vowed I would never go through that again.

Bob,
I agree with you about getting them trained, and keeping them refreshed on the skill. It seems like there's always a few who don't get the hang of it, and maybe we can't save them all, but we certainly can save a good number of them. I also offer food at times through the summer, and have observed some parents fly repeatedly to the feeder tray and take eggs/crickets back to their young. One summer I found a bird below the pole which I thought was doomed - it was so much smaller than its siblings and I fully expected to find it dead on the next check. But I started putting egg in the tray and the parents from this nest really used it. On the next check, he had totally caught up to his sibs, and went on to fledge. So I like to "reinforce" the supplemental feeding each year - a little flinging, both crickets and egg, and then offering it in the feeder tray from time to time. What I have seen is, if they are hungry, they will use it, if natural food is abundant, they won't. But I also saw the heaviest feeding from the tray being done in late afternoon into the evening - as if perhaps they couldn't find enough during the day and wanted to put their babies to bed with a full belly. Feeding martins has added a wonderful dimension to this hobby, and with the unpredictable weather that even the far south is experiencing, it probably is preventing die-offs in many areas.

Joe...
I am glad you're having success feeding your 10 birds, they surely are helped by it. 50 degrees has been used for a long time as the "threshold" at which insects fly, but I wish it was emphasized more that it doesn't represent conditions which will necessarily support purple martins. We seem to be in such an unpredictable weather cycle - last spring, we had great weather for our martins, while much further south of us, birds were lost due to the cold. I hope that this spring is kinder to everyone's birds.

Scott,
I sure hope it does warm up soon down there. It seems like winter is hitting everyone about 6 weeks late, but winter is here with us, that's for sure. Lake Erie actually has some ice on it now.......

[Bob Flam]

But I also saw the heaviest feeding from the tray being done in late afternoon into the evening - as if perhaps they couldn't find enough during the day and wanted to put their babies to bed with a full belly.

That is so true, I saw a lot of that in 2005 and last year. They used it a lot to feed the young, late in the day before bed time. They also took a lot of egg shells for grit to the young at this time also.

That's cool that the one you found on the ground was caught back upto the others with it.

Last year I moved just outside town right when martins were arriving at the old place in town. Amy thought, he'll never move now! But we did, I took 2 poles, left 2 and ended up with 13 pair here. I could tell some were from my colony in town, because they were eating eggs n crickets immediately, without even training again. They remembered! Woooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooo

bob

[Bob Buskas]

Great post Mary, you have it 100% right!