What's happening in TX and LA?

[pmartinlover2]

I'm just wondering how all the Texas and Louisiana landlords are coping with all the rain? Are your martins able to feed? Just worried I guess. Please let us know how it's going???
_____
Jody

[M.Stephens]

109 nesting pair of martins with 225 eggs with 238 babies on Saturday's nest check.....
Plenty of bugs with all of the rain.

A friend 50 miles southeast of me in La. has 235 pr. 1043 eggs and babies.

[Anthony Neira]

Hey Jody, My PMs are fine , I'm Very lucky, a REAL Strong storm JUST missed me & all around I see in the news, people & their property being flooded. I can't help but wonder if there were PM homes there. In SW Austin, a bridge collapsed, and I had to think of the Swallows who most likely had nest there! Yes, we Now have Tons of insects, which of course is great for the PMs, BUT FLEAS are exploding in #s !!! Monday we're supposed to get hit hard again!! Good luck to you & family.

[Anthony Neira]

Man O Man ! Central Texas North of San Antonio up thru Oklahoma is being HIT HARD this Mon. Afternoon with a line of Red (and worst) & Yellow on the Radar going from West to East. Prayers out to Everyone, their families, pets, PMs , & their property !

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

In South Central Texas, we got over 20 inches of rain in the past month, but it comes in bunches, mostly at night. Plenty of bugs, fat babies, no problems

[Vern1]

Same here in CenTex.
20+ inches in last 4-5 weeks.
Rained 3.1" Saturday night.
Rained 4.5" today but the heavy stuff has just passed - it's been raining almost 8 hours straight.

At least most of the rainy days haven't rained all day or the rain was overnight so the Martins are able to feed.
It didn't start raining until mid day today so the "feed the babies freight train" was running strong.
I have babies ranging from newborn to almost ready to fledge.
All the rain has produced lots of flying insects and I see some pretty big dragonflies going into the gourds and wonder how some of those little birds can eat them.

I'm down a few pair this year but have more babies due to plentiful insects!

[Anthony Neira]

Good News about bugs for your Martins! guys, Emil & Joe ! I was VERY Lucky today ! The Nasty weather was to be all over me today, but it skipped around S.A , Very Sad for everyone North & East of me. I Should have done a nest check again this morning, I did one Sat., But like you said Joe, they were doing the Food Freight Train All Day ! I didn't feel right, slowing them down ! We might get a little break Tue. & Wed. Good luck to Everyone !

[pmartinlover2]

Sounds as if there have been enough breaks in the rain for the martins to feed. I like Emil's response of " plenty of bugs and fat babies, no problems here. That's great news! Anyone heard from Steve Kroenke with his humongous martin colony in LA? I know the rain has come through there too but I guess in the South the rain just means more bugs. So glad to hear you all are doing well. Prayers for our friends in the flooded areas in TX. Thanks for easing this Northerners mind!
_____
Jody

[eyeamtheman]

I talk to Steve K fairly regularly, and unless there's extreme weather, ours is about the same conditions, but I'm sure he will make a comment. I live about 80 miles or so south east of him. Conditions here are about the same rainfall amount, but the martins are doing ok, as it's staying warm, and the rains are not continuous. Got 118-120 pairs and noticed a subadult pair nest building the last couple days.....(deep sigh)
All is well, I live on a big ole hill, so no flooding.

[Vern1]

Mostly clear and sun shining this morning with temps in upper 60's.
Looked out a little after daylight this morning and the Martins were already making breakfast runs for the kids!
It's almost 8am now and the colony is very active this morning!

Shouldn't be too long until my first batch of babies take to the sky so it's exciting times around here right now!!!

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

We got a lot more rain last night, the 5in gage overflowed. Lots of flooding problems. The sun was shining, martins are busy feeding babies. All of the rain had no effect on the martins, it rained mostly during the nights

[Steve Kroenke]

In northwest Louisiana we have had several actually almost cold wet days where the temperature never got above the high 60s with a cool north wind chill in the upper 50s. This happened at least twice during May. I have never seen such weather in May!

The martins were unable to feed their young for hours and some of the babies died. I watched some of the parents carry out decomposing babies and drop them in the yard.

The ASY pairs that lost all their babies are now re-nesting. Other pairs may have lost half their babies in a brood. I have seen a number of nests which now have only two or three babies in them.

A good friend in Dalla had even more rainy cool weather in his area and he lost well over 50% of his babies. He said he has never seen such nasty weather in May in Dallas and he has lived there for over 50 years.

It was a combination of well below temperatures and wet conditions that caused the problem: parent martins were unable to find enough large insect prey during those times to feed their babies.

Weather conditions are better now during the day and the martins are feeding their babies regularly. We did have a strong rain storm last night.

Steve

[Vern1]

Hate to hear the news Steve.

An interesting and disturbing observation at my colony just now.
I went out to check on a trap I have on a gourd with start of EHS nest and noticed a lot more birds here now and my gourds without nests seem to be filling up all of a sudden.
I know I have babies ready to fledge any day now but these look and act like adults searching for a home.

I wonder if these were displaced from a nearby colony?
Luckily, I have some additional empty gourds available but fear someones colony got damaged or destroyed in the bad weather.

EDIT: I have to dash out and remove the trap door - the extra martins are trying to move into the gourd with the start of the sparrow nest.

[Anthony Neira]

Joe, with people having their 300+ Houses & possessions being swept away in the Rain / Overflowing Rivers, I bet your right ! It's sad to think that some PMs have lost their housing/ & young, and are looking for your site for shelter ! Good Luck, we're in for more rain this afternoon & evening today !

[trisha]

I live south of Fort Worth and we've had the same cool wet weather for almost a month now. I recently got my martins to eat out of the feeder trays and I'm so glad. I've been rationing my last 3 bags of crickets since Friday. I started soaking freeze dried mealworms that I buy for the wrens and mockingbird and mixing with egg and a tablespoon of crickets. At first they were just flicking the mealworms out and not even trying them. But as the day went on and they became more desperate some tried it and ate it and then took them to their babies. I have a few that don't have babies yet and aren't eating out of the feeder... SY's... so they may not make it. But as a whole my 30 pr should survive....We have a few hours each day it seems where they can feed but then more heavy rain. My next shipment from Reptilefood should come tomorrow. Good luck to all landlords suffering all this weather.

[BW Fowler]

Joe,

I've seen an influx of new birds too, mostly SY males but a few ASY birds. My small colony (7 of 12 gourds occupied) still has room for more pair. Hopefully that will keep the SY males from causing problems for the newborns.

Haven't lost any to the rain, knock on wood! Its been warm here and the nests have stayed dry. I am concerned about mites and gnats. The adult birds continue to show signs of infestation even though I used a little sevin under the nest material and have sprayed a permethrin/pyrethrin solution on the outside of the gourds. Hopefully it will dry out some soon.

BW