Question about 'noisey' martins - what is it about?

[jasmemphis]

We have two gourd racks and two martin houses. The last few days, the martins have been having a field day - flying and 'hollering' and making all kind of noises the reason for which I don't understand. Is this the kind of behavior that accompanies fledging? It's not a panic kind of behavior - it's more like suddenly there are 20-25 martins in the air over the yard and over the housing - chirping and - well, making martin noises. I know there are plenty of martin colonies out here - we live in the 'burbs on the edge of farmland with ponds and open areas and racks of martin houses. I suspect some of the reason for the increased activity could be 'visiting' martins from other colonies. All of our young have not fledged - I can still see heads pop out of the gourds for instance. We have been martin landlords for 10 years and we've never had so many nesting before - it's absolutely wonderful. I have had to pop a couple of young birds back in the housing twice - but that's not too unusual. I was just curious about the kind of 'chattering' and 'hollering' going on and all the fly overs, etc. Thanks for any insight you can provide. - Jolene Smith / Memphis, TN

[John Miller]

Jolene

I don't know the answer for sure, but I'll commiserate. I'm seeing the same thing. One morning I thought "What now?," they were all flying around nervous and chattering and not landing on the house, but then finally calmed down. I can only conclude they get a little crazy from all the feeding trips as the babies get older. Perhaps they just get a little hyper, if the weather is mild and feeding conditions are good, but this is the first year I observed larger colonies closely. I know the sub adult males who are tending their young get downright onery, buzzing me if I stand and gawk.

But we should watch closely. If one sees martins flying nervously about their house and not landing at all, something is wrong. The ones I observed do land and get back to normal after 5 min or so. Martins also sometimes will climb high in the sky if a Cooper's Hawk is lurking in a nearby tree. I observed this once earlier in the season. I did not see the hawk until it flew out of the tree, pursued by red-wing blackbirds, but martins knew it was there.

John Miller

[~Patrick~]

It's my experience that fledging time is a noisy, chaotic time. The weeks prior to fledging are usually quiet with parents making countless feeding trips to keep the young ones fed. Then once the fledging starts, all **** breaks loose. I've got visiting subbies that showed up a couple of weeks ago that did not spend the nesting season here. They are particularly hard on new fledglings. Parents are trying to protect the young ones, subbies are trying to pummel them, babies are chirping. All in all, it's a noisy affair.

Patrick
Fort Worth

[Dick Sherry]

Fledging time is a time of great excitement in a colony and it seems to attract other martins that are in the area. I always enjoy the extra birds being around, and the increased level of activity as the parents try to coax the young out and get them to take their first flight. Once the young have all fledged, it gets way too quiet, so I always try to watch them as much as possible during the fledging process.

[jasmemphis]

After watching the martins out the backdoor for the past few days, it is evident the commotion is all about either the fledging of the martins or the 'visitors' from around the area that are showing off their own newly acquired flying skills. I watched one of the martins that fledged yesterday and it is a hoot to see them try to figure out a.) how to land and b.) how to get back in the gourd thru the SREH. I think we are close now to having all the young out and about - and you're right - it will get quiet and lonesome once the martins are preparing to return home. I thank all who contributed to my query about the noisy martin activity - as I said, we had a very good year with an early return of the martins and then we were blessed with favorable weather after one 'scare' in early April when we had a cold spell. It's quite a miracle, isn't it, to be host to the purple martins. My grandfather was a martin landlord and I am happy to say I am passing it along to my children as well. Again, thanks all. - Jolene / Memphis, TN

[Al Denton]

It was a "one and done" deal around here Tuesday morning at fledging time. I had only one pair that fledged six. It was a three ring circus going for a while with the parents coaxing them out and with my subs getting in the way. I even had some some birds passing through that stopped to watch. It seemed like 20 minutes of chaos before they were out and all rounded up and out of sight. It's very quiet around here now except for the occasional visits, and my adult pair is coming in at dark to roost. It was a good year, but it's just about over. I sure miss all the noise