Adults gone, baby left behind - HELP !!

[Guest]

There was no sign of any martins in our neighberhood tonight - the sky is usally full of hunters. Also no action at either of my two apartments that had three familys. So I lowered them to check and found one baby in a back room that seems to have been left behind. His brother was found dead, hanging out the front door.

He is now eating hamburger and drinking water. His eyes are still closed.

What do I do ??

Could the parents have left him behind ? Left early ?? Last year they left on July 11th and this year they arrived about three weeks late.

[CUL Lou~Mich]

ThePratts. First thing I'd do is get to a bait shop, or pet store, and get some Mealworms, and Crickets. If the little guy is old enough to eat hamburger, it should take mealworms. Just cut their heads off first. There have been a couple of reports of the mealworms grabbing the inside of the babies throats. So make sure they are dead. As for the crickets, just put the container and all into the freezer for a half hour, then check them. They should be dead or pretty lethargic, so go ahead and feed them to the little one. You could try dipping either or both of them in water, so the little one gets a little water. Hopefully you live in an area that has PMs. I'd put the little one outside in a regular bird cage if you have one. That way they can get used to the outside, and perhaps hear and see other PMs. Oh, I don't know how old. Only do this if it's fully feathered, and on decent days. Best of luck. Hope you can get it to flying age. CUL Lou///Edit. Oh, you say his eyes are still closed, and his brother was found dead in the doorway. Perhaps it would be best to put it back in the house, and see if the parents resume feeding it. I'd still give it some dead mealworms though. It's possible the parents couldn't get to it to feed it with the dead one in the doorway. It'd certainly be best if the parents took over though. CUL Lou

[Guest]

Thanks Lou,
The little guy has lasted the night in a shoebox. One eye is now open and he is chirping, moving about and pooping. There are still no sign of adults at our homes or any martins above the neighborhood, it seems they have left for the season. We can now touch the side of his beak, he opens wide, we push the raw hamburger inside and he gobbless the food down. We will stop at Pets Mart today and get some worms.

There are still no sign of adults in our neighborhood again today. It looks like they have left for the season. I had three families this year but this guys parents were weeks behind the other two. Last year the birds left on July 11th.

Please someone, tell us what to do next.

[Guest]

Thanks Lou,
The little guy has lasted the night in a shoebox. One eye is now open and he is chirping, moving about and pooping. There are still no sign of adults at our homes or any martins above the neighborhood, it seems they have left for the season. We can now touch the side of his beak, he opens wide, we push the raw hamburger inside and he gobbless the food down. We will stop at Pets Mart today and get some worms.

There are still no sign of adults in our neighborhood again today. It looks like they have left for the season. I had three families this year but this guys parents were weeks behind the other two. Last year the birds left on July 11th.

Please someone, tell us what to do next.

[Laverne]

Hello ThePratts.

Go to the top of the Forum and click on the PMCA Home button. Scroll down to the Download Center and find the article titled Caring for Sick, Injured and Orphaned Purple Martins. Download that file and read the instructions. I think it is a good article with good information.

I have never given a baby PM beef, or meat of any kind. Unless you want to call scrambled eggs meat. And when I fed scrambled eggs it gave the baby a loose watery stool that after a while looked like raw egg. So, I went to the pet store, bought him some crickets and within about 12 hours his stool firmed back up and lost that yellow color. I kept the baby just over the weekend. I took him to my local rehabber Sunday afternoon. I knew it would be frowned upon if I brought a young PM to work to feed him the every 45 minutes my rehabber does.

I know some people have successfully raised nestlings to fledging and then the fledglings just go away one day. They assume they left on migration, but they don't really know if they lived or not. I believe a PM baby has his best chance with a bird rehabilitator. Just my humble opinion...

[Sparky]

I agree on the rehabber procedure. Some of the rehabbers have an orphan martin outplacement listing. The rehabber will bring the bird to an existing active colony once it gets well. I know the rehabbers in the Houston area do this as I am on their list.

[Guest]

Please stop feeding the baby hamburger. This will probably make him extremely sick, if not kill him. If you purchase crickets or meal worms, you can put them in the freezer. When you need to feed the baby martin just thaw them out in hot water, then feed.
The second thing you should do is contact a local rehab person and get the baby to them as soon as possible.

If you cannot get crickets or meal worms quick enough you can offer scrambled eggs. DO NOT USE BUTTER, MILK OR WATER OR ANYTHING ELSE just eggs. You can even scramble the egg & put in the microwave to cook.

[Guest]

Again there is no sign of any PM's in our neighborhood this morning and we have many hosts. It looks like they have left for the NO Causeway - the assembly point for their trip to Brasil. Have any other locations lost their PM's ??

I waited until dark last night before bringing the little fellow in and it was too late to drive to Pet's Mart. He seems to be doing well on the hamberger, but my wife is going to get worms now.

Where do I find a rehabber??

[Laverne]

I found my local rehabber by calling my veterinarian. His office has a list of several. I called them and one of them referred me to a rehabber they knew to be the best in the area with birds, especially Purple Martins. She has her own colony.

Maybe someone from your area will post the name of a rehabber they know in your area.


I forgot to say earlier - I have never had parent PMs abandon their nest with young in it. One year I had a single ASY female stay with her four young for two weeks after every other nest had fledged and was gone. She fledged them by herself and brought them back to their nest for another 4-5 days before she took them away. I would be more inclined to believe something happened to this baby's mother.

Good luck to you and your baby PM.

[Matt F.]

I've been doing some searching around for info on rehabbers in your area. Check out this list, this may be a starting point:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactA.htm#la

[Guest]

Thanks Tex,
I used your list to find a rehabber in Mississippi (we live on the state line),
and I have left a message with them to call me in the morning (per their web site). http://www.wranps.org

The little one is fine, has two eyes open now, eats the worms and eggs you all suggested. You just touch the side of his beak and he opens wide and squawks. As soon as food touches his toung, he swallows.

This is the second night without a single PM in our sky and we saw no PM's leave our apartments this morning. Do you think Mama would leave the kids behind just for a trip to Rio ??

[abernathys]

ThePratts--I'm happy your baby is doing better. You have done well keeping him alive. You mentioned that there are not any Martins around, is there a possibility that some type of predator caused your martins to leave? Did the other martins have babies that have all fledged? Usually the female will stay to care for the babies unless something has happened to her or a predator has scared her away. If she saw the dead baby in the entrance hole, she may feel that something killed her babies and left herself. All this is just thoughts that have crossed my mind, all of the birds leaving has me puzzled Keep up the good care of the baby.


Sandy

[Guest]

Sandy-
My question also, Where are the adults. Last week our neighborhood had 50 PM's hunting overhead each evening. Now there are zero. We had two other familys who flegged and have also disappeared. I can only guess that they have left for Rio.

We are headed now to a large nesting site on I-59 at the MS Visitor's Center, it's about ten miles away. And we will see if there are any adults left there.

[Guest]

Follow-up:

We found the PM housing at the I-59 Visitor's Center in Picyume, MS was also empty tonight. They had about 20 PM families this season. The guard told me that they were last seen three days ago

I phoned a friend in Waveland, MS and his PM are still there, but seem to be packing for the trip.

[Laverne]

It is wonderful to see them all successfully fledge their young and then head south on their annual migration.

And I suppose it is possible that an SY pair might actually abandon their young - but, I have never, in nine years, seen it happen at my colony.

This is what I have seen. An ASY female stayed behind with her young (all alone) until they fledged and then she still brought them back for another 4-5 days to a totally abandoned colony site until they were ready to move on to the premigratory roost.

She looked very lonely sitting up on top of that little wooden house. Visiting groups of PMs would move through during the morning, but she was the only bird in the sky in the evenings as she fed her young.

I wondered what happened to her mate. I accused him of abandoning his mate to leave her all alone to raise these young by herself. But, this is what I think really happened. I believe he was taken by a hawk or he would have been right there by her side.

There are a lot more Purple Martins taken by hawks than any of us realize.

So, the next time you start thinking bad about a PM parent for abandoning his/her young - remember my lonely ASY female with her four young. I believe she was more the norm - I believe abandonment is rare.

[abernathys]

Hey Pratts/Laverne--I guess we will never really know the answer.
I too have had parents never leave the babies behind. I had a subbie pair last year that was all alone for almost three weeks, the rest of the colony had fledged. They stuck it out and fledged their four babies on July 26th. However, they did stop roosting with the babies a couple of weeks before fledging. This year beats that though, I have an adult pair that arrived at my place about a month ago and now that so many have fledged they are laying eggs. Two eggs on Monday and four eggs yesterday. I'm so worried for them. I guess time will tell what will happen. This weekend the last of the babies will fledge. Hope everything turns out ok for them. Good luck next year, if you had babies that fledged, I believe you will get those PM's again.

Sandy

[Laverne]

Hey Sandy!

No need to worry. This is what I believe. If the eggs hatch, then they should be able to fledge. If we don't have a full fledged drought and if you can keep the mites and the starlings and sparrows and snakes out of the nest and give them a fighting chance - you may have just won another pair for your colony. This pair probably lost their first young - I hope they make it!!

I've got a late nest, too. Five little hatchlings 2-3 days old now. They've got a fighting chance over here - I'll even give them supplemental crickets if I think they need it...

Enjoy...

[abernathys]

Hey Laverne--good luck with your late nest. I'm rooting for mine. I plan on going and buying some crickets and mealworms too! Just in case they need alittle help.

Yes, I will definitely have to keep an eye for the snakes, mites and sparrows. Those are my worst enemies at this time.

Good luck, I know your babies are in a good place!

Sandy

[Guest]

Little "Jose" is now in the hands of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Long Beach, MS. He is there case # 407. www.wranps.org

Their written reference material (?) states that PM's offen leave late births behind - that when the majoraty of the new born in the colonly have flegged, the entire party leaves for Rio. They expect that they will have to keep him until next season.

My wife has signed up for their volunteer training and will be able to check up on Jose when she returns.

Thanks to all who have guided us through this adventure.......

[Matt F.]

Great update!!!!

Thanks for keeping us posted.

Keep us updated on the little one's progress.

Matt