DEAD purple martins

[kjbarnett]

Hello -

Hoping someone can give me some explanation -
On May 24 I did a nest check, all looked good 17 eggs in 4 nests.

Today, May 26 I grew suspicious, I saw no activity. It's been rainy cold weather here in Oklahoma so I didn't think too much about it. However, I just got done doing a nest check. I found 3 DEAD martins and nests look abandoned. One egg in a nest was broken.

I have sparrow cage on my gourd pole. I have a snake guard on my gourd pole. I have SREH on all my gourds. WHAT HAS HAPPENED???? My husband and I are devastated. We would appreciate any ideas from anyone!

[brent]

Hi. I am so sorry to hear this. Did the dead martins have any obvious trauma? Were all the other eggs unharmed? Were the nests disturbed like a fight would have taken place? Just by what you mentioned it does sound like some fatal invasion but unless we have more details it’s hard to determine. So sorry to hear this. Brent

[BillieJR]

OMG - the worst fear has happened. And you don't have the answers as to why. I am so sorry. I hope they come back for you.

[MKaye]

I live in Northeast Oklahoma at grand Lake it’s been raining here for the last two weeks days at a time. This last week it was cold and rainy for most of five days, I supplement feed my birds for the first time by buying crickets and mealworms at a local bait shop here. (300 hundred dollars later). 🫣 I didn’t have a feeding station so rigged a pole with a small cup at the end and placed the crickets and mealworms constantly on their porch and to my surprise they ate them as fast as they could. I truly believe they would not be alive today if I had not done this . The rain, wind and cold here has been relentless. The cold rain all happened the same time as they hatched. It will be 79 today and I will stop the supplement feeding.
The strange thing that happened that I don’t understand while feeding my birds others came out of the woodwork. A few SY’s have been here for awhile but now I have at least 5 new Asy male’s eating off the porches. Now the new Asy males are trying to go in the nest with the others and fighting is a big issue each evening. Why would a male Asy try to take over a nest with babies? Did the females die during this wind and rain? I do have empty cavities sy’s and the new Asy’s males are using. I think this is a big problem if they keep fighting. Three Asy males trying to get in a occupied nest with babies was quite a fight.
If you have had the weather like we have I truly believe some of your birds didn’t make it. I’m so sorry for what happened to you it’s certainly been stressful the last week for us. Kaye

[C.C.Martins]

Man I am so sorry! Was there signs of trauma on the martins?
Have you seen starlings around? Only thing I can think of that will kill that many birds and break eggs. Chances are a snake would have not broken eggs.
Terribly sorry to hear this.
Tom

[kjbarnett]

To answer several questions, there were no signs of trauma on dead purple martins, no signs of nest attack, all eggs were still whole just cold. I don't know, still wondering if any will return. It's now, June 17 and my site is still empty. I'm new to this so I didn't realize that supplemental feeding was a necessity. A little older and a littler wiser now!

[TexasMatt]

Did the parents abandon the nest? You said an egg was broken. Did the dead babies have any wounds? If the death of a baby is 100% known to me, I will always look for wounds. We can name of couple things it ain't.