Neighboring Martin Colony Sites??

[Guest]

I have a question for you experienced landlords. My site is in a fully developed suburb in North Texas. I moved here 2 1/2 years ago, and had always wanted to have a Martin house. Our old place in Dallas was too dense with 75 foot 100 year old trees to have a house. Never saw any Martins in that neighborhood. After I moved to the suburbs, I noticed many Martins and quite a few Martin houses nearby. Only one neighbor appears to be a "good" landlord in that she attends to the house and the Martins during the season. The other neighbors pretty much seem to ignore their houses.

However, many of them seem to be occupied with some Martins each year. My neighbor is now in her third year and she fledged about 15 to 20 last year. My first year, which was last year, I fledged three and had a young pair lay eggs that did not hatch.

My site, which this year consists of my modified S&K 20 unit house (now 9 compartments) plus three new gourds, pretty much breaks the rules in that the houses and trees are closer than what is preferred by most of you. However, the Martins in the neighborhood are either used to this or don't care. We are gaining numbers each day now, and I have had some lone males staying each night. Tonight I saw one bring a female with him, which is encouraging.

My real question is this. Since the conditions are not ideal, do I stand a chance of building a small colony over the next few years. Also, will some of the other Martins that fledged last year come back to the neighborhood and maybe take up at my site? I'm anxious about this, as have tried to create the best situation for the that I could in hopes of attracting more each year.

I used to raise homing (racing) pigeons, so I've always been interested in birds and their homing instincts.

Bud
Plano, Texas

[eyeamtheman]

If you want an honest opinion, I would think that you're colony might not grow that much, even tho you might attract a few pair. That's strictly based on the trees you say are close by. However, it is possible to have a colony near trees, but that could very well result in increased predation, which would most certainly limit your chances of expanding greatly. Most landlords are limited in space, but are still successful, but probably darn lucky to get a really large colony.
BUT......don't be discouraged, and continue to do all you can, as you stated.
Good luck !!

[John Miller]

Martins in the southern part of their range are less fussy about trees and buildings. Very open helps, but there are many colonized sites with just open flyways.

Just go for the most open you've got. Maybe consider trimming some trees. Get your housing up above your own house or nearby structures. When I was a kid in Kentucky, we lived in a little town on a corner lot with scattered trees all about. One martin house was up on a pole on top of our garage and the other was just about six feet out from a "carport," next to the street. I used to stand on the carport and reach over with a long pole with a hooked wire on the end to pull out sparrow nests. Brother. But we had lots of martins.

There are advantages to keeping a modest size colony. You can watch each pair closely and become keenly aware of their progress and monitor for problems.

Re: fledglings returning. There's an article in the archives called "post fledgling wandering" I think. Only about 10 percent of fledglings return to the "natal" site. Many return to the general region. One way colonies grow, I think, is to get some returning martins who successfully bred there the previous year. Martins foremost want to be where there are martins who appear to be settled in.

John Miller

[Guest]

I don't think that trees are necessarily a show stopper when it comes to having a successful PM colony. In my opinion martins associate trees with danger if they have been predated on by hawks/owls. If they have not been subject to this trees don't seem to bother them.

My housing is located 40 feet from a 80ft weeping willow - the PMs seem to love the tree, it is a great source of green leaves. My neighbour has a weeping willow 30 feet from one of his houses - the canopy actually covers the whole house. This colony has existed for 20+ years (the willow in question has been trimmed multiple times.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

In my opinion martins associate trees with danger if they have been predated on by hawks/owls. If they have not been subject to this trees don't seem to bother them.

Stan, I completely agree with you. In my area, we have a lot of owls, and my neighbor that lives 5 houses away from me cannot attract martins, they visit his site, it has a row of very tall trees about 50ft from his house, but he has been unable to get martins to nest there. That is so strange to some people, he feels jinxed. He sees others with martins close to trees, so he doesn't think the trees are the reason and will not move his martin house....uummm, yeaaa..

[Guest]

Thanks for the comments. I'll just have to give it a couple of years and see what happens. I've got the house and gourds in the best and only place I can put them. Really appreciate the feedback.

Bud

[Guest]

Without a doubt I am finding poorly managed neighboring housing the most frustrating aspect of this hobby. I am in the same situation where there is an abundant of 6 inch deep houses in my subdivision with which I have to compete. I am perplexed as to why these sites are able to hold martins when the birds have so much better options, mine!. I have no idea what the fledge rate is for my neighbors but it can't be very good. I find myself frequently patrolling the neighborhood mostly via boat and on several occasions have scared off their hawk and owl attacks. I have no knowledge of an attack at my own site though. Also I am the only landlord in the neighborhood offering SREH housing and mine is 100% SREH. Wish more martins would know a good thing when they see it! Oh, about the willow trees, the martins do love em.
Kent