Porch sitters

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

This has been an unusual year for us. For the first time ever our trendsetter and gourd rack are completely full. The t-14 has only about 8 compartments that aren't claimed, not all the claimed compartments have nests though.

That all sounds wonderful. But what to do with the dozen extra martins that come in every evening and spend the night on the trendsetter porches. Most, but not all, are SYs. We have the trendsetter in an owl cage so there is some protection and with all the storms that we've been having at night at least they have a bit of shelter.

My question is..... should we discourage these birds from roosting on the porches? I fear that it's like having 12 decoys sitting out at night. I can use a long pole to scare them off.

Any advice please?

Larry

[flyin-lowe]

I usually feel like they know what is best. It is odd that they would be roosting outside when you have open compartments. Are you certain they are staying out all night and not just going in after dark and getting back out?

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

Thanks flyin-lowe

They do sit out all night, taking off before any daylight. There are no compartments open in the system they are roosting on. We've been having a lot of martins passing through, stopping for the night then moving on, but the last 4 days it seems like this same bunch has been coming in late. Don't know why the sudden, late influx of birds. Perhaps they have left unmanaged sites or recent storms and flooding in the area have sent them looking for a better place. I just don't know. Just unusual to have so many come in late with no place to go. Fledging begins here in a few days. Going to be real crazy.

Larry

[pmlover]

martins never sit out at night there must be something in the empty cavities that they are afraid of.

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

Thanks flyin-lowe! You backed me up on the wife's question. I told her just leave them. This is our 20th year and our 1st 100% capacity. Yep, 20+ sys porchin overnight. We have 46 compartments with 92 ASY and SY pairs sitting on eggs or chicks. I'm sure the sy porch sitters are scared to go in, especially when the nesters will bite them in the butt. If anyone hasn't seen overnight porch sitters, come by and tale a look, from 9:00p to 4:45am. I am not letting her put up another house. Best year yet, but too many birds. These birds do not sit in houses in Brazil or during migration, so night out is nothing unusual.

Larry Kronemeyer
Bird house helper

[Dave Reynolds]

.... I would never try and scare them away... They know pretty much about what they are doing.. Just enjoy them..

Dave

[Dave Reynolds]

.... I would never try and scare them away... They know pretty much about what they are doing.. Just enjoy them..

Dave

[phldave]

sure wish we could come up with a way of redistributing these birds that don't know where there are available vacancies.