As I glanced outside late yesterday afternoon, saw what I thought was 3 or so Purple Martins flying around the still closed-up house and empty gourd rack. (Have recently had a lot of plain black birds enjoying our black oil sunflower seeds meant primarily for the Cardinals, so had to take a good look. Our Purple Martins have never come this early!!!)
Anyway, rushed out and opened the front of the house, and one guy appeared to have spent the night. He's still here this morning. While yesterday made it to 70, and today is forecast for 80, next week will be cold again with a couple of nights in the upper 20's. I really wish the Purple Martins would wait till at least April to come! We can still get cold weather and snow into mid-April (and have), but from now to April, cold weather is just about a guarantee. (Of course, last year, most of March was like normal April - a really strange year.)
Hope the weather forecasters are showing worst-case cold next week and it doesn't really get that cold!!!
What are they thinking???
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Ginny Pres
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 10:26 am
- Location: Missouri, Raymore (south of KC)
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Dave Duit
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- Martin Colony History: In 2026, 88 pair with 333 fledged youngsters. 110 total cavities available, 82 Troyer Horizontal gourds and a homemade PVC / metal 28 compartment unit, 1 fallout shelter. Hawk and owl guards included. Martin educator and speaker. President and founder of the Iowa Purple Martin Organization. Please visit Iowa Purple Martin Organization on Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1627283871068161 Emails send to [email protected]. Subject line include Iowa Purple Martin.
Hi Ginny,
Just be sure to put out scrambled eggs, crickets or meal worms by the entrance so she won't starve to death. Sound like the martins will need our food with their early arrival. Good luck.
Just be sure to put out scrambled eggs, crickets or meal worms by the entrance so she won't starve to death. Sound like the martins will need our food with their early arrival. Good luck.
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Ginny Pres
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 10:26 am
- Location: Missouri, Raymore (south of KC)
A few years ago, when we had a bad April cold snap, I bought some crickets at a local store. They were so tiny, Martins didn't seem interested in them at all. For mealworms, I read you have to put them in sawdust so they can make it move around, or will they eat dead mealworms? I saw some mealworms packaged in a bag at Orscheln's. Wonder if they'd eat these in the house cavities?
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Louise Chambers
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We feed the dried mealworms if we run out of live ones, but soak them a good while in hot water first. PMCA has dried mealworms in our online store, I like to keep a tub on hand. http://shop.purplemartin.org/Dried_Meal ... tails.aspx
There is a bag with a smaller quantity, too.
There is a bag with a smaller quantity, too.
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Ginny Pres
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 10:26 am
- Location: Missouri, Raymore (south of KC)
My one lonely guy was still hanging around this morning, but is gone right now (unless he's in the house, but I don't think he is). A miserable day here. I wonder if he was smart enough to head back south? I have an old 9 x 9 cake pan that will attach to the pole under the house. We fixed it up to hold egg shells. I assume he might eat mealworms out of it, or I've even heard they will sometimes eat scrambled eggs? A local pet store has live and dried mealworms, but can't get them till tomorrow. Might try the egg if he shows up tonight.