All,
A couple new birds came in late last night about 8:30 PM and caused a ruckus as they tried to find an unoccupied cavity in the growing darkness.They were repeatedly chased out of many cavities with much noise and agitation until they found cavities. This morning I observed a subadult male signing to a female. He had a heavily splotched breast and was causing a stir with her ASY mate.
Last year I had 11 ASY pair, up from 4 pair the year before so I expected that I would have a good chance at a decent number returning this year. To my surprise, I began this year with 9 ASY males, followed by a steady increase until I had 26-30 ASY birds here faithfully, with as many as 15 ASY males counted as they preened at the colony.
There has been an increase in feeding at the oyster shell feeder and I observed a pair copulating at the feeder 3 days ago. This morning I saw the first green leaves being brought to an Excluder gourd. The female on the porch took the leaf from the male and took it into the cavity. This was repeated several times as I watched. I added a Deluxe Gourd rack this year and six of the 12 Excluder gourds have occupants. I have a total of 25 cavities available this year. Eleven in Trio houses with large cavities and the rest in either Super Gourds or Excluder. All cavities are SREH. I have no issues with either starlings or sparrows.
I hope everyone is successful this year. Everything turned around for me when I followed the advice of the PMCA.
My first sub adult of the season
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Ed Svetich-WI
- Posts: 815
- Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:05 pm
- Location: Brooks, Wi (McGinnis Lake)
- Martin Colony History: 24 Super and Excluder Gourds on two gourd racks, all SREH. Full occupancy. My philosophy is to maximize fledge % with existing cavities rather than adding gourds to grow colony, thus providing opportunities for new colony expansion. Fledge over 100 nestlings yearly from 24 gourds. Band nestlings in cooperation with state university. 2019 Adendum: Reduced colony size to 12 gourds to focus on more intensive management regimen.
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Ed Svetich-WI
- Posts: 815
- Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:05 pm
- Location: Brooks, Wi (McGinnis Lake)
- Martin Colony History: 24 Super and Excluder Gourds on two gourd racks, all SREH. Full occupancy. My philosophy is to maximize fledge % with existing cavities rather than adding gourds to grow colony, thus providing opportunities for new colony expansion. Fledge over 100 nestlings yearly from 24 gourds. Band nestlings in cooperation with state university. 2019 Adendum: Reduced colony size to 12 gourds to focus on more intensive management regimen.
Sorry to hear that. Did you have birds last year? I must be pulling ASY birds from other sites locally. You are way too far from me to be impacted. That is the only thing that I can think of although I am not aware of more than a handful of active colonies within 20 miles of me. The one site that I mentored last year has two pair at last count, up from one pair last year and there is another site with minimal management with two or three birds this year but other than that it is sparse.
The SY birds are a few days early for me, so maybe you will get yours yet this week with the warmer weather. If you have it, play the Dawn Song and Chatter tapes/DVDs. They work like a charm to at least bring them in for a look.
Good luck,
Ed
The SY birds are a few days early for me, so maybe you will get yours yet this week with the warmer weather. If you have it, play the Dawn Song and Chatter tapes/DVDs. They work like a charm to at least bring them in for a look.
Good luck,
Ed
Ed, I'm glad to read that your colony is growing adding new housing definitely helps.
The month of april was one of the coldest and wettest on record for this part of the state and many swallows may have perished as a result, feedback from local landlords seems to reflect that. Most say their numbers are down from last year and claim that birds that were there are now gone. I've made an effort to inform area landlords of the importance of supplemental feeding during extended periods of bad weather. Hopefully the arrival of SY's will fill some of the vacancies.
Numbers of birds here are increasing daily I won't have an exact count until the females start egg laying but I hope to be at or over last years numbers.
Have a great season
Tom
The month of april was one of the coldest and wettest on record for this part of the state and many swallows may have perished as a result, feedback from local landlords seems to reflect that. Most say their numbers are down from last year and claim that birds that were there are now gone. I've made an effort to inform area landlords of the importance of supplemental feeding during extended periods of bad weather. Hopefully the arrival of SY's will fill some of the vacancies.
Numbers of birds here are increasing daily I won't have an exact count until the females start egg laying but I hope to be at or over last years numbers.
Have a great season
Tom
Train your Purple Martins to supplemental feed... you'll be glad you did. http://www.wisconsinpurplemartins.org/