Might be a probelm?

[Kyler]

My first scout arrived on the 21th and now I not sure if he is still here. The first night im not sure if he even came back and then the next day we went out of the town and now we just got home and there is no sign of him anywhere. There is no poop or anything in the compartment that he went too right when he arrived. So does anyone have any suggestions I should do or just wait and see what happens.

A colony about 1 mile away from me had a Male arrive on the 22nd and he saw him this morning and now he's gone and hasent seen him for several hours!

Kyler,

[Ed Svetich-WI]

Patience. Assuming that your housing is adequate, has predator guards and is in a good location,location, location all you can do is wait. I see that you had a successful colony last year so if nothing has changed, at least a few of your birds from last year should return. They don't often defecate in their nest as adults so that is not indicative of residence.

Returning birds often explore the area even if they have site fidelity. They are looking for a mate and otherwise building up their reserves feeding from a long journey north. Watch for them to bring another martin back with them.

Good luck and enjoy.

Ed

[avesrun]

Kyler are you watching until the last speck of daylight fades? That's often when they like to zip in stealthily and in a matter of seconds.

[Bigbob1610]

Yep, be patient . I had a male stay the night have not seen him all week. Hopefully he Is rounding more to come back., or he needed a rest to move north. I understand how hard it is I didn't even want to go to work the next day. Lol

[MichaelH]

Heh kyler don't worry. I had my 1st male arrive on Monday he never did stay or go in a gourd the night saw him briefly on Tuesday and didn't see him for two days or any others around well today two males and two females showed up within 10 mins of each other and then another lone male ,they stayed for about 30 mins and all went off .then a male and female came back and went in the same gourd just before dark ,
So don't worry kyler they don't always stay at there site to start with ,well at least mine didn't last year till I had at least 8 or 10 birds staying be patient he's prob gone to bring some more to your site be patient
Mick

[Kyler]

Ed,
Thanks for the response. That is what my mom has been telling me so I think I will just be patient. Also the only thing I changed is I put nest trays in my compartments. He went right to a compartment that had babies in last year and he never went to another compartment or house.

Tim,
I didn't the first night and tonight I was at another colony and his male never came back tonight either. Mine might have but I wasn't here. I will look in the early morning.

Bob,
Thanks for the reply that tells me he might still be here.

Mick,
I just might think he is out feeding and coming in really late. Or something else I'm not sure. I hope he arrives with more birds.

Kyler,

[Archer]

Hey Kyler, here's how I look at it. Once they show up, they go check out the house, maybe have a good rest. They next day they go to town and look for all their buddies that they haven't seen since last summer. They hang out with their buddies for a few days of fun, then its back to the farm to start looking for their lady friends. That's my story and I'm stickin to it, lol Patience budy.

[flyin-lowe]

Some returning martins stick around and spend the night others don't. I am not sure what the deal is but every year I had martins returning at my old house they never would stick around. Typically I would have some stop back for a day and then they would disappear for several days. Sometimes they would drop in for a minute or two but for the most part they would stay day one then I wouldn't see them for several days. I have heard others report the same.

[Kyler]

Archer,
Thanks I like your story that kinda sounds true. I believe it haha!

Flyin,
It's so weird what they do some times.

Kyler,

[Kyler]

Well he never showed up that I saw. Then last night we had a really bad wind storm move through. And then today was about 40 degrees and Cold and Wet with about 60 mile per hour wind gusts which I thought my gourd rack was going down many times. Luckily it didn't. So what do early arrivels do when it's really cold? Will they find the closest colony to where there at and wait out the storm? It was all day so no feeding today as well.

Kyler,

[Don Troha]

My first scout this season was here for three weeks before spending much time at the house or sleeping over. Once the other birds showed up, he was back for good, guarding his spot along with the others. This is typical I think... for me anyway.