Large Flock Of Purple Martins Arrived!

[Steve Kroenke]

Our weather warmed up nicely today and tomorrow will be warm too but we will probably have more rain. Then Thursday it will be much colder with highs in the upper 30s or low 40s and there will be at least two more days of cooler but probably not as cold weather.

However, today's warm weather seem to bring in a bunch of martins to both our colonies. Martins were "raining down" from the sky on our colonies! We probably gained around 30 martins today though some may be migrants.

The previous disastrous cold wet weather did kill a number of our early martins. But some martins did survive and these may be the ones that actually ate the crickets I placed on two of my Trendsetter house porches.

I always enjoy watching the males arrive as they usually go directly to the gourd rack/house and often same cavity they nested in the previous year. The females may do this too but they will often fly around the housing and check out the various males which results in males fighting each other over the females!

We are WAY DOWN in martins for this time in March. We usually have several hundred martins at this but we may currently have only about a quarter or less of that number. No doubt the horrible weather has probably something to do with that.

Our colonies looked like purple martin wastelands earlier but now with today's wonderful weather and new energized martins things are looking much better. I can only hope this upcoming cold spell will not last as long as the previous one.

Steve

[taxidermy lady]

That's great news Steve. I am sure you are relieved.

We will be in the 50's by the weekend so I think the cold surge will be a short one!

[Steve Malone]

A couple of weeks ago I had a male flying over the houses, but he never landed and I never saw him again. This evening I watched a female for over an hour flying over head. She finally landed and went into a gourd.

This time last year we had about 15, so they are very slow to arrive here.

I'm still getting my Troyer gourds ready. I have 18 up, but I still have 24 I'm putting the vents in. I think by this weekend everything will be ready.

[rrmartins]

Great job Steve. Glad to hear your having a good year so far.

[John Barrow]

Steve, Nice report.
We saw the same in Corpus Christi this evening, although heavy fog saturated most of the day. But still warmer temperatures and lots of feeding. Although we apparently lost no martins to starvation, we did have a coopers hawk that was preying on the colony and a few martins were too weak to escape his attacks. Numbers that have remained relatively stable since first arrivals greatly increased this evening with the arrival of about three dozen migrants.
I will be posting a separate scout report documenting my thoughts on this arrival, but like you, it sure lifts the heart to see them dropping in out of the sky. This arrival should bring great relief to those who have fought to save their martins and in many cases lost the fight. Heavy migration days are on the brink.
Thanks for all of your reports and your participation and support of PMCA and this forum.

[pmartinlover2]

I think things are looking up for you, Steve and Bob-----finally! I don't think the cooler weather coming later this week will hang around too long. Hopefully it will be back to business as usual with all of us a little wiser and more aware of what Mother Nature can throw our way at any time. Come on Spring! I'm ready!!!
______
Jody

[Steve Kroenke]

Thanks for the comments and I believe things are looking much better for the purple martins in our area for now! Of course, we never know what Mother Nature will bring later on.

When the martins were under stress, all their normal social behavior disappeared and they were operating under survival mode. Our colonies looked like "ghost colonies" after about a week.

But with the arrival of good weather and new "happy" martins flying normally, vocalizing and doing what martins do, Bob and I were so relived to have our martin colonies BACK!

This weather disaster experience has significantly change my viewpoint on supplemental feeding and I will be much better prepared BEFORE such an event occurs in the future. Though I didn't have any success with "flipping crickets" or having martins feed from a tray, I believe this can change by intervening earlier during a potential weather disaster. Have crickets in the freezer several weeks BEFORE the martins arrive. Also I plan to provide egg shells/oyster shells on raised platforms to get martins accustomed to feeding at this height. We have been placing shells on our driveways and the martins seem to like that approach, but I am going to try to transition the martins to platforms. Maybe if our martins had been used to a raised tray, the females in particular would have gone to one quickly and found the crickets/eggs.

What we endured recently clearly shows that martins in the Deep South can experience disastrous weather for EXTENDED periods of time on occasion. Though we rarely have such weather, it is still a possibility. We landlords must always be prepared for it.

I hope all southern landlords will soon see more martins arriving at their colonies. We will probably have more coming today.

Steve

[eyeamtheman]

I was planning on making my own post updating the situation at my colony, but I'll just comment here, if Steve doesn't mind. Tuesday morning, with my early arrivals cut in half, the 10 martins that were left ate crickets and eggs as they have for the previous 9 days. But by 10am, with warmer weather in place that day and Wednesday, they left and no doubt gorged on insects that were finally available for the 1st time. And like Steve, many new arrivals showed up and things seemed back to normal. I know of 10 confirmed losses throughout all this, but I did all I could. There is another VERY cold weather system approaching, but it's not forecast to last long. I figure the martins to make it through the next two days just fine. Many thanks to Steve for the phone calls, advice and encouragement from Louise and Kathy Freeze, and we all appreciate the migration observations from John Barrow.

[adrianhans]

Just wanted to confirm what others are saying about the great weather day yesterday. I am not on the coast today but my husband, who is, called and said there were well over a hundred martins spending the night with ours. This is typical of their pattern of coming in mass numbers one day, and then gone the next from our site. They should get one more day of feeding in since the cold front is not due until late today. I still marvel at their resilience and ability to withstand the elements. I hope to get some decent pics this week-end.

[Steve Kroenke]

Adrian, Johnny, and everybody,

This evening many purple martins arrived to roost in our two colonies. I sat on my front porch and watched martin after martin come directly out of the south and some went to Bob's colony and others went to mine. Not all these are "our" martins and some are migrants judging from their behavior as they just flew all around our colonies and didn't go to any particularly gourd rack/house.

We probably have 50+ martins roosting in our colonies this evening but some no doubt will leave to head farther north to their own colonies.

Though we lost martins during the weather disaster, you wouldn't know it based on the number of martins that arrived yesterday and today.

Martins are already viciously fighting each other over territory and mates: males fighting males and females fighting females. There is NO brotherly or sisterly love among martins and though they nest in colonies they still fight each other savagely.

The weather will be AWFUL tomorrow with highs in the upper 30s and possible snow/sleet. But next day we should have plenty of sunshine but highs in the mid-40s; martins can still find food under those conditions, particularly around water or open pastures. So I believe the martins should be OK.

I believe many more martins will be arriving in our colonies over the next week and at other sites, too.

Steve

[Dave W]

That's excellent news Steve. We would kill for temps in the 30s and 40s about now. We're rejoicing over predictions reaching 50s next week. We've yet to see a red-winged blackbird here, when normally I see a few in late February. No robins, Sandhills, etc. although I think the floodgates will open next week. Been following your posts during the poor weather- you're absolutely right about offering some elevated platforms for feeding eggshells. I put up a small platform maybe 6 feet off the ground to feed eggshells a few years ago and the females use it regularly with males standing guard over them. They also readily feed on eggshells place on bare dirt in the garden. Hopefully they're "trained" but haven't needed to supplemental feed in a few years- they came back pretty late last year. Best wishes to all.