I Never Let Martins Roost On Porches/Perches At Night

[Steve Kroenke]

I Never Let Martins Roost On Porches/Perches At Night

One of the problems with a huge purple martin colony is the large number of ?non-established sleeper? martins that try to roost with the established residents. At our two super martin colonies in northwest Louisiana, we ALWAYS have a flock of non-residents which arrive to ?spend the night?. These sleepers are nearly always SY martins that are passing through on migration or are martins that are perhaps looking for territory. It is an avian madhouse around our colony sites as these newcomers try to find a place to sleep.

Usually just before dark at roost time, the sleepers arrive and try to find a cavity. Most are unable to do so and are evicted time and time again as they try to enter the nests of established martins. Unfortunately, these sleepers will sometimes force themselves into nests which contain eggs and fights break out inside the cavities. It is chaos, as these sleepers fly from one gourd rack or house to the other trying to find a place to roost and the residents drive them away.

But the greatest danger comes when some these newcomers decide to roost on the outside, usually on certain type of house design porches. The Trio castles with their large porches will often be used for outside roosting. Gourds with porches may also be selected. Often the sleeper will be just outside the cavity of a permanent resident which maybe is chattering loudly with territorial warning vocalizations. The sleeper can?t get inside because the owner of the cavity is blocking the hole. Outside roosting martins accompanied by nocturnal vocalizations of the inside established residents can be a recipe for disaster.

I NEVER, NEVER let martins roost in my colonies like that and there is a good reason for it. I live in the country and we have two night killers that will slaughter these martins. We have both barred and great horned owls and these owls can easily see any martins roosting on the outside and they WILL kill them.

What I do is just walk around my colony site just before dark and make sure any outside roosting martins disperse. Just moving under a gourd rack or house will often cause the porch sleepers to fly away. But you have to be vigilant and keep them on the move. They eventually leave and will find a safer place to roost like a tall tree top. I am helping these martins and my permanent residents by discouraging outside roosting which can attract hunting owls. If I don?t chase these outside roosting martins away, the owls will be more than happy to do it for me and eat several in the process. Then the owls may become conditioned to find food at my colony and come night after to night to feast on the martins.

Here is what happened on the early Sunday morning of April 23, 2006 and illustrates why I don?t let martins sleep on the outside in this area. As always I get up around 4:00 am and study the early morning behavior and listen to the nocturnal vocalizations of martins in my colony. I also go on ?owl patrol? to make sure any of these fierce predators easily see me. My colony is illuminated by an outside security light and the owls in nearby woodlots several hundred yards away would see me.

Bob?s colony is located about 100 yards to the north of mine and is easily visible. He, too, has an outside security light which helps to light his colony site. There is a wide open space between our colonies.

I had been hearing barred owls hooting in the distance for several mornings so I knew they were no doubt listening to the martins in both our colonies vocalize. I also heard a great horned owl hooting in a woodlot directly east of Bob?s colony and located about 150 yards away.

At 5:18 am on that Sunday morning, I was standing directly in my colony when I heard a loud ?thump? against one Bob?s Trio castles. Unfortunately, martins were roosting on the outside porches. I turned around and heard the loud death screams of a martin being butchered alive by an owl during the darkness. It is a sound you will never forget and the early morning acoustics transmit sound very well. I still tremble when I hear it and I have heard it many times in the past. I then saw the huge brown shape leave the castle and fly through Bob?s colony with the screaming martin! So primeval and eerie in the darkness! The security light somewhat illuminated the killer as it took its victim to the nearby woodlot to be eaten. I rushed over to his colony with my flashlight and ALL the martins that were roosting on the Trio porches were now gone! So the owl dispersed them minus one victim.

The next day I told Bob about the owl predation and we are both now dispersing porch roosting martins from our colonies. I have been monitoring both colonies early in the morning after the owl attack and so far the owl has apparently not tried to predate any martins inside our housing. The martins are still emitting nocturnal vocalizations while nest bound and a tremendous amount of dawn singing is occurring. However, a great horned owl was hooting at 5:20 am this morning, April 25, 2006, in the woodlot to the east of Bob?s colony. I walked over that way and up our road so he/she could easily see me. The hooting stopped though I never knew if the owl left the premises.

For folks who live in more urban/suburban settings, you may not have to deal with owl predation on outside roosting martins. But for us country folks, owls are a real danger and any martin sitting in the open on a house porch or gourd crossbar is easy prey. The main problem here is that the owl may then come back over and over again to predate the martins and eventually start attacking the houses/gourds for the permanent residents. I would rather disperse the outside roosting martins from my colony rather than have an owl do it for me and kill some in the process. Martins can fly fairly well in the darkness and find a safer alternative roosting site such as the canopy of a tall tree.

Steve

[Guest]

Steve,

That makes great since! I had a hawk last year try to grab a roosting SY male at dusk. Thankfully, he missed but the SY male never slept at my house again........even though he paired and the SY female layed 3 eggs. He left each night just before dark. Eventually, that nesting failed as the eggs disappeared (another SY male?) probably because the male wasn't around enough to protect the nest.

[Steve Kroenke]

Hogwild,

Yes, a bachelor SY male may have removed the eggs. Right now, I have numerous SY males trying to move into my colony and they are often trying to usurp the nests of established ASY pairs. Big fights have occurred. It is a mess at times!

This evening we saw probably nearly 100 "new" martins circling our colonies. But fortunately they decided to roost elsewhere and formed a tight flock that appeared to be looking for a tree canopy. We watched the martins skimming over the tops of tall sweet gum trees. Roosting high up in a tree canopy is much safer than roosting on house porches/perches low down where owls can easily see the martins.

Steve