pmc colony records

(Nest checks will be done every 5 days until end of season. Read general comments by date and scroll down to specific house and nest compartment for details)

Housing type:
Self made Troyer T-14 (14 compartments with 4 additional hanging "Super-gourds").

NORTH

*Note green colored boxes and gourds have martin activity

General Comments:

Arrival date April 18, 2002

5/1- first nest checks completed. Much activity around the t-14. Looks to be about three pairs trying to find a nest box and/or coupling. Several adult males, one SY male and several adult females hanging out. Sparrows are making good progress, making nests and laying eggs, not for long. Will trap using the new nest box trap when I get it.
5/6- Now it's looking like about 4-5 pairs starting to couple up. Lots of sparrow nests removed and burned.
5/25- 8 families and nests have a good start, green leaves in 7 nest boxes.
5/30- 3 families have started laying eggs (2/nest), started on 5/29. Looks like the sparrows have given up on building any more nests and I notice the martins are now fighting for their territory. Has been about 10 days since I cleaned out sparrow nests.
6/4- 6 out of 10 families are laying eggs now (28 eggs to date). Sparrows are being driven away and cannot make nests because the martins are not putting up with them.
6/9- 7 out of 10 families are laying eggs (35 eggs to date).
6/14- 9 out of 10 families are laying eggs (40 eggs to date). One more family to lay eggs and that should be close to the time earlier families eggs start hatching (around 6/17).
6/19- 9 families have laid 45 eggs for the season. Hatching has started so I will leave them alone until next week when I treat their nests for mites.
6/29- The weather has been very hot and dry for the last three weeks. Temps in the mid nineties. For some reason three hatchlings were found out of the nest box and down on the ground. One was alive and estimated to be a couple of weeks old. Another was very young, guessing about 2-3 days and the third was about a week old. I don't know if the parents are naturally tossing out the weakest hatchlings or if sparrows are the cause of the problem. The baby that was alive was returned to the nest in box 12 which had two hatchlings missing of the same age.
7/1- Two hatchlings were found dead on the ground today. I suspect from box 12 but won't know until next nest check.
7/9- After checking the nest boxes today and treating for mites I found nest box 12 to be abandoned with the nest completely gone along with all 4 hatchlings. I don't know what happened. I'm guessing the parents could/would not take care of their young and abandoned their young and/or threw them out of the nest. There was also one hatchling missing from gourd 3. All other hatchlings looked good and were healthy. Some boxes are very near fledgling stage. There are a total of 38 hatchlings now and further nest checks will not be done so that babies that are near fledgling stage won't try to fledge prematurely.
7/29- Well, the sparrow situation had almost went away and I had installed a nest insert trap (it works great) just in case they came back. Today it was tripped so I had to lower the house; sure enough a martin fledgling was in the trap. A very good reason to make sure you keep an eye on the trap at frequent intervals. While the house was down I examined the baby situation and took a count again. All but three nests had fledged. Box 1 & 4 and gourd 4 had hatchlings that will soon be on their way also.
8/18- The martins are all but gone now, occasionally I'll see them flying around hunting for food, seldom do they return to the colony. I plan to put in a new pole for the house, the current pole is bowed badly from the wind. I'm going to have a local saw mill cut a new one from a nice straight tree so that it's all one piece. I'm also thinking of a second house although I still have the 18 "Super Gourd" rack available. The martins didn't show any interest in the gourds. I suspect, no, I know they prefer the T-14 so, mabe two houses will be needed to expand the size of the colony.

box 1

Comments:
Hatching begins: 7/3
Earliest Fledging: 7/29, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 8/7 , Nestling age: 35 days

box 2

Comments:
Hatching begins: 6/18
Earliest Fledging: 7/14, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 7/23, Nestling age: 35 days

6/29- nest check shows one hatchling dead on the ground.

box 3

Comments:

box 4

Comments:
5/6 sparrows nest removed.

box 5

Comments:
5/6 sparrows nest removed.
5/14 sparrows nest removed.

box 6

Comments:
5/6 sparrows nest removed.
5/14 sparrows nest removed.
Hatching begins: 6/24
Earliest Fledging: 7/20, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 7/29, Nestling age: 35 days

box 7

Comments:
5/6 sparrows nest removed.
5/14 sparrows nest removed and replaced with new trap.

box 8

Comments:
Hatching begins: 6/21
Earliest Fledging: 7/17, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 7/26, Nestling age: 35 days

6/29- nest check shows one hatchling dead on the ground.

box 9

Comments:
5/1 sparrows nest with 1 egg. Egg removed and nest left, will trap.
5/6 sparrows nest removed.

box 10

Comments:
5/1 sparrows nest with 1 egg. Egg removed and nest left, will trap.
5/6 sparrows nest removed.

box 11

Comments:

box 12

Comments:
Hatching begins: 6/17
Earliest Fledging: 7/13, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 7/22 , Nestling age: 35 days

6/29- nest check shows one hatchling on the ground. Returned to the nest. Also, one hatchling is missing leaving 3.
7/9- Remaining 3 from 6/29 are gone and the nest is also gone.

box 13

Comments:
Something strange happened between nest checks done on the 14th and the 19th. I must have missed the fifth egg laid or the egg arrived out of sequence? Hatching dates are based on 5 eggs laid, first egg laid on the 10th.
Hatching begins: 6/29
Earliest Fledging: 7/25, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 8/3 , Nestling age: 35 days

box 14

Comments:
5/6 sparrows nest removed.
5/14 sparrows nest left alone and eggs removed.
5/18 sparrows nest removed,trap set.

gourd 1

Comments:
Hatching begins: 6/19
Earliest Fledging: 7/15, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 7/24 , Nestling age: 35 days

gourd 2

Comments:
Hatching begins: 6/17
Earliest Fledging: 7/13, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 7/22 , Nestling age: 35 days

gourd 3

Comments:
Hatching begins: 6/20
Earliest Fledging: 7/16, Nestling age: 26 days
Latest Fledging: 7/25 , Nestling age: 35 days

gourd 4

Comments:

7/9- I'm note sure what happened here with the record we went from green leaves to hatched eggs in too short of time.

Housing type:
12 unit "Super-gourd" rack.

gourd 1

Comments:

gourd 2

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gourd 3

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gourd 4

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gourd 5

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gourd 6

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gourd 7

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gourd 8

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gourd 9

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gourd 10

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gourd 11

Comments:

gourd 12

Comments:
5/1 sparrows nest but not sure.
5/3 It is a sparrows nest, trapped male.

Copyright © 1998-2008 Jeffry Blair.