I hope I don't jinx it. Two mornings now I've got a SY-M and SY-F hanging out on/around one of my under-slung gourds beneath a T-14. This morning the male was dogfighting what I assumed to be another inquisitive male. This is surprisingly territorial behavior for a bird who's supposed to be very colony based. I suppose they can tell which males are a threat. It really seems like this pair might be committed to my site.
I've got a songbird magnet playing from 5am to 7pm (much more than "dawn"-song). Does anyone have experience suggesting that the music should be stopped once a pair is committed? I thought I might have read some posts suggesting that live birds provide all the attraction without the confusion of song without bodies. They don't seem to mind. The male does park himself in front of that speaker a lot. Not sure if I'm stressing him out with "unseen competitors".
I haven't seen any nesting material yet, but I had to be away all day today. I don't want to mess with anything until well after eggs are laid at this point. Nothing to risk losing the pair!
Any advice/thoughts from others is always welcome.
Thanks!
This might be my year in PA!
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AndyShutterbug
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Mon May 18, 2015 10:58 am
- Location: Midland, MI
- Martin Colony History: 2013 Heath hexagon 12 cavity...no birds
2014 T14 added. Couple of visitors only.
2015 Four birds? At least one pair? 5 eggs in three different cavities! Abandoned.
2016 Heath house not put up. Only visitors.
2017 Only visitors
2018 No activity
2019 Visitors 20May only
2020 Visitor 22May, 3 birds suddenly 20Jun!?
2021 Nothing
2022 Sudden flurry 04Jun. Pair hanging out. High hopes!
2023 Few visitors. Disappointing...then moved from this house.
AndyShutterbug
Central Michigan
Central Michigan
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RAMSMARTINS
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2016 7:22 pm
- Location: HOUSTON, TX
There are three steps to getting permanent martins. First, they land on your house, Second, they go in a room, and Third most important, they spend the night. If they don't spend the night, you just have visitors
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G Saner
- Posts: 256
- Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2013 3:37 pm
- Location: TX/Kerrville
- Martin Colony History: Fort Worth, TX (1967-1976), The Colony, TX (1981-1985), Carrollton, TX (1986-2013), Kerrville, TX (2015-present).
Two SuperGourd poles (12 gourds on each) at River Point Assisted Living Center.
As mentioned, spending the night is of the most importance but the fighting is a good sign. Yes, the best attractant is another martin not a recording. If the martins spend the night and start nest building, I would turn off the sound.
G Saner
We talking sleep or making bird love?RAMSMARTINS wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 6:06 pmThere are three steps to getting permanent martins. First, they land on your house, Second, they go in a room, and Third most important, they spend the night. If they don't spend the night, you just have visitors
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randyM
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:30 pm
- Location: Long Lake SD
- Martin Colony History: * 2016 - 1 pair (ASYM + SYF) 2/3 eggs hatched 2 young fledged.
* 2017 - 4 pairs, 16/17 eggs hatched, 16 fledged, 16 banded - 2 banded SY returned in 2018 (12.5%)
* 2018 - 10 pairs, 46/52 eggs hatched, 45 fledged, 29 young banded - 3 banded SY returned in 2019 (10.3%)
*2019 - 32 pairs, 145/160 eggs hatched, 139 fledged - 87 young banded - 12 banded SY returned in 2020 (13.8%).
* 2020 - 35 pairs, 180/199 eggs hatched, 178 fledged - 150 young banded & 42 SY returned (28.0%)
* 2021 - 89 pairs, 363/446 eggs hatched, 355 fledged - 150 young banded & 19 SY returned (12.7%)
*2022 - 116 pairs, 495/579 eggs hatched, 471 fledged - 150 young banded & 27 SY returned (18.0%)
*2023 - 160 pairs, 708/828 eggs hatched, 572 fledged - 150 young banded & 38 SY returned (25.3%)
*2024 - 235 pairs, 950/1153 eggs hatched, 865 fledged - 100 young banded & 18 SY returned (18.0%)
*2025 - 200 pairs, 795/953 eggs hatched, 739 fledged - 200 young banded
If your single pair is used to the martin CD playing, I'd keep playing it. During the season with my first nesting pair, I played the daytime chatter CD through June. The next year I had 4 pairs and still played the chatter CD through June. Live birds are indeed better at bringing in new recruits to a site, than a recording but if a single pair is all you have and they are out feeding miles from your site and a stranger passes through your area, it would be good to have the CD playing to attract the passing birds to your site if your residents are away. This happened to me the first two years I had nesting martins...while my resident martins were off feeding, I had single visitors stop by to inspect my set up and likely returned again when the live resident birds were present. Best of luck to you!
Randy
Randy