You had a great and successful season this year, especially after having to start over again and this was your "first" year The activity level with 11 pairs and 43 fledglings is amazing, lots of coming and going and singing and consequently the silence after this is "deafening".....I am sure you can keep busy though getting prepared for next year and another growth spurt at the rate you are going and growing Best wishes for next season and the off season.....
I still have 3 babies and both parents with about 4 more adults that hang around daily and had 30 on my 2 set ups yesterday. I am pretty sure none of the adults stay at night and I am not sure if the mother of the babies stays every night either. Babies are due to fledge 8/22
Astrid,
Believe it or not, but I had one martin roost here last night! Took me by surprise and I had to look twice and then with binoculars!!
Ihr freund,
Gary
My last pair with babies fledged on July 29th. For a while, 5 of them would come back at night to roost. Then there was just 4 and tonight there was just 3 martins. I don't know if something bad (hawk attack) is happening to the other two that didn't show up tonight or if they are gathering with a pre-migratory roost. I love seeing them, but I am ready for them to get with other martins and start their journey southward. I just don't want them to be left behind. This is 16 days since the babies fledged. How long do they keep coming back after they fledge? I thought it was only about a week.
Martin Colony History: I moved to South Florida, from Delaware, in August of 2015.
I care for a 6 condo Sunset House as well as two Deluxe Gourd Racks, with 24 Chirpynest/Excluder gourds, along a canal in Pompano Beach, Florida.
At Quiet Waters Park, nearby in Deerfield Beach, I care for a Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 TVG's. I also care for a Deluxe Gourd rack with 12 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder entrances. I am substituting 6 Chirpynest boxes for 6 of the Conley II entranced gourds in 2026.
At another local park, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, I care for a Trendsetter 12, 5 gourds rack with 60 Excluder gourds with Modified Excluder Entrances and 1 Deluxe Gourd Rack with 12 Troyer Vertical Gourds with Starling Stoppers over the Conley II's to keep out smaller starlings.
Around 9:30AM I heard a familiar call and within a minute or two four martins landed on my Trio Grandma. One actually looked in some entrances while the others just preened sitting on the roof. They landed shortly after I chased off a singing starling! The martins stayed about 10 minutes and then took off like rockets.
That is wonderful you still having all these visitors during the day Enjoy while you can.....it is going to be very quiet once they leave.....
When did your martins first return this year?
I bet that was a surprise for you with the one martin roosting at your place at night. Did he/she sleep outside on the housing or go into a compartment. Maybe he/she is trying to start a new roost at your place....
I do not think that something happened to your other martins since less are coming back. I have seen this here as well. First the entire family comes back for a few nights, and then every day one of the martins does not come back anymore. What I have observed is that usually the male stays away first, then one of the strongest babies and then the Mom and only 2-3 babies would return for a few days. It seemed like the Dad was handing the responsibility over to the Mom, and then the strongest baby does not need all the attention anymore and is allowed to join the adults at the roost, etc. That is of course only what I have seen here in my backyard, no scientific proof.
I am happy to hear that your season turned out to be great, especially after all the problems with the hawk you had going on for a while. I actually think that our hawk might be back already. This morning I saw a bird across the canal that looked like a Sharpie....I have to try to make a deal with him, like I'll feed him some fresh meat every day if he leaves my martins alone next spring.....
They probably came to tell you "thank you for chasing that Starling off...this is our housing".....Usually, when martins visit us I can hear the tfamiliar sound. This year I feel we have less visitors than usual, but then a friend who came by the house yesterday morning told me I had two PMs sitting on the Goliad house. Sure thing, 10.30 a.m. there is two martins quietly sitting on the perches for about 30 minutes. Never made a churtle or screech. They looked just all relaxed. Now, I am wondering how many visitors I might have missed because for whatever reason they might have not vocalized as much or at all....
Even though our one little nest of Momma Pappa and 4 little fledges have gone, we now know they are at the roost 14 miles away in Ravenswood along the Ohio River.
I am continuing with the Dawn song early mornings and have had lots of visitors. They come in bunches: 25-30 then a little later a group of 6, then 4. I know they are not the same because the smaller group had a dark male, but the big group were subbies or HY. I go outside and talk to them. It has been thrilling watching them circle me while I talk to them. I know they come from some landlord who talked to them too.
I think the groups from the roost are out feeding during the day. Anyway they love our old TV tower, because that's where I find them in the mornings.
This is a nice treat to have so many visitors since our Martins have left the yard. An even bigger thrill is to visit the roost in Ravenswood. It's worth the heat and sweat!
Astrid, My 1rst martin came March 25. I have never had martins in Aug before in my 5 yrs of landlording. I have seen fly bys in the 1st or 2nd week of August. But not residents.
Astrid, my last family of babies left Sunday. I had a little girl raise that family of four by herself. May God grant them a safe trip! We fledged 108 so it was a pretty good season. Can't wait till next spring! Terry
I wish I had someone to go with me to try to find their roost which appears on the radar to be at Horn Lake, the part that is on the Tennessee line below Memphis. On the map, it appears to be rather isolated. I had noticed the mother heading in that direction just before dark after feeding and quieting their little ones not long before the babies were ready to fledge and wondered where she was headed. The other adults had left already. Would the parents spend the night at the roost with young still in the nest? Or would they return after dark?
TN Pesticide Control is testing a HS that was sick on my patio. I contacted them about the destruction of my martins as suggested by Fish & Wildlife, Atlanta. They will not diagnose a bird illness, only pesticides if found. The bird got better when I put it in a sparrow cage and brought it inside but worse that night when I put it in the cage back on the patio. If it is negative, I have not decided which way to continue to ask for an investigation into pesticides here.
Thanks again to everyone for support. I still tear up when thinking of how happy and vocal they were not long before the incident/incidents. I had filmed them with the camcorder one of those times late in the day when all were at the apartment.
Do all the fledglings stay with the group on those return visits. If so, then I only have 5 surviving babies. They fed 13; the 4 from the gourd died; I don't know how many made it of the 5 on the back side of the apartment, but possibly only 2 from the 4 of the rehab baby's nest. There was one other and the rehab baby with the parents when the rehab baby alone made those 3 passes over me as I sat behind garage near the apartment. I mentioned its foot hanging down but did not say that part of the leg was also down (The injured foot and leg was one way I ID'd the baby as the one I rehabed.). That would be 5 babies and 4 parents--9 which is what I counted on that last visit on the wires and the apartment.
My final pair fledged Sunday(12th). I have never had fledgling take place this late before. I did have a couple flybys and even a couple land back on the housing yesterday.
It was very nice to have them around a bit longer this year than past years.
Astrid
I have been real blessed with some coming back around each day. about twenty or so but not staying in the housing at night. Mr. Cooper hawk made a pest of him self again this year by chase them away. But not like other years they keep coming back during the day. And today was a miserabile day rain wise with rain most of the day. But this morning there were about sixty martins sitting on top of the poles. And some of them were mine for sure, because I seen three banded ones in the group. I had 118 chicks banded this year for the first time, they were hard to see being all crunch down. It was good to know the hawk didn't eat them all, I knew he wouldn't but it was good to see them. I did fledge 186 so there was other ones he was chasing to eat also. But by the middle of the day most of my entire colony was back sitting in the rain. I counted 220 at one time with some birds flying around changing spots. And to top it off they all started to go into the housing for the night. So tomorrow might be a great day for me again.
Astrid
I posted a message last night, but I see it didn't transfer over properly. It listed like I posted but there was no message. So here is what I said A lot shorter though. I have had about twenty martins coming back during the day. But yesterday most of the entire colony came back for the day, I counted 220, with birds changing spots. it was a bad day weather wise for martin, rain all day. So most of the day they just sat hunkered down to the perches and porches. But instead of leaving like other nights half stayed inside the housing over night. I though maybe all of them did but this morning there is 118 still here. The rest might be looking for something to eat, because it has a 60 percent chances of raining again today, but we need it. I know they are not all just travelers passing through because I counted at least three banded ones and I had 118 chicks band here this year. It has been nice having them around here longer this years, in past years Mr. cooper hawk always chased them away early.
This is great that you still have that many martins around and coming back. Sounds like you have a pretty big colony with all the fledglings you had. Must have taken quite some time to band 118 babies. Did you band them all at one time or at different times?
I am glad to hear that the Cooper's hawk could not scare your martins off as the previous years. We had a Sharpie through mid April making our martins and our lives miserable....he then migrated north. I am sure he is coming back soon for the winter and spring....
Hope your martins keep coming back for quite some time and you get to enjoy them. Once they start traveling South they will have enough to eat....we have as many dragonflies as I have never seen before and they are all nice and fat
Thank you for your update and best wishes for next season.
Astrid
All 118 martin chicks were banded the same day. I had the bander and a friend of mine help with the banding. I didn't get a chance to see much how it was done because all I did was bring, and return chicks back to the housing. From start to finish it didn't take us more then a couple of hours. I had A total of 140 chicks that could have been banded but he didn't have enough bands the right size.
Tonight their is still around about 80 martins still going into the housing for the night, still poor rainey weather. But they are flying so I think there feeding.
Way up north Ottawa, Canada August 23 I still have 4 babies (at least another week to fadge) and very patient mama. I do not know if they going to make it back south. I'm checking on them daily and as long as mama flys around I'm cool.Last year martins left on August 10th. Any suggestions?
Best wishes for next season and the off season.....
