pmc colony records

Housing type:

Arrival date April 09, 2005

4/09- They're here! It's been a mild spring so far with cool weather. Made one significant change this year, moved the gourd rack to within about 6 ft of the T-14. This should encourage more Martins to use the gourds and overall, help increase the number of successful fledglings at the end of the season.

4/15- Have about 6-8 Martins working on the coupling thing. A Martin or two arrive daily is what it seems like. I'll have to open up the rest of the nest boxes in the next few days. Just waiting for the Martins to start fighting off the sparrows. They are doing well with that task already, and with some help from me, the sparrows don't stand a chance. Next week I should be getting my new scope and mount for Diana and some other goodies for my automated sparrow shooter. More on that in days/months/years to come.

4/16- Counted 10-12 today and they are just busier than cats covering up litter!

4/30- The weather has become extremely cool since 4/16, near freezing at night on many days. There are still about the same number of Martins but activity has slowed way down. Cool weather and lack of bug population are making it hard for the Martins to feed properly. Sparrow activity is high but the traps and Diana are working well. Starlings have also been deterred or trapped and have moved to other areas.

5/9- The weather is still extremely cool. Nest box 2 had one dead male adult in it. No signs of a predator attack so, I am guessing the lack of food or cold weather got to him. The weakest link theory because I counted upwards to 16 Martins at the house two days ago. Sparrow activity has decreased with Starlings being off and on, caught two today in the S & S controller.

5/14- The weather, again, is still extremely cool. Yesterday while tinkering on my new invention to combat sparrows and starlings I looked out toward the Martin house. I noticed something moving in the grass but could not tell what it was so I went out to investigate. It was a Martin. Between the time I got out there and spotted it, it was less than a few minutes and on the way out I saw the last wing flap of the female adult. Again, no signs of a predator attack. I am sure now, the lack of bugs and cold weather is killing the colony one at a time. Looked underneath the house at the base of the pole and found another dead Martin, a male this time. A foot or two away lay an even stranger sight, a wood pecker fledgling, also dead. What had carried and dropped the fledgling will be a mystery, I have no other answer. Today, I purchased mealworms to feed the martins in hope that it may help them for the next few days. I tried to throw them up in the air so they could dine but, they did not seem to see the mealworms. They were attentive to me but were still cautious. I also set a tray of mealworms out nearby and tried to lure them to the garage lean-to roof where I threw some more on top. All failed to gain any interest. I did count 16 Martins so there was a highlight in the sorry attempt to feed them and I will try again tomorrow when the wind is down. Had to remove one sparrow nest with eggs otherwise the nest boxes were all empty. I feared opening up the house for the nest check and finding, still more, dead Martins.

5/15-I built a small feeder stand and offered the Martins a chance for a good feed of "mealworms". It sits just to the left of the house if you look close. I knew they wouldn't take the mealworms off the tray on the ground and I also wanted to get something smaller and not shiney like the tin I was using. Putting it up in the air closer to the house should also help. Hope they find the mealworms!

5/17-The mealworms were gone today. I was very lucky to have spotted a Blue Bird snatching one up. I did not see any Martins interested in the mealworms yet so am not sure who had the feast. Today, I added another dozen or so and while approaching the house did a count of over 20 plus Martins in flight. Most were in the house in protection of the gusty winds. The temp is around 70 and the forecast looks warmer, and that's good news.

5/20-The weather has definitely turned for the better. Only one sparrow nest between the house and the gourds. The Martins are fending off their enemy with a bit more vigor these days, I suppose having a full belly of bugs does wonders for a birds attitude and ability to fight off such an obnoxious foe. There are good signs of pairing up and the start of nest building activity. Next check should be interesting, could see some permanent nest starts.

5/24-It's been beautiful outside for several days and the Martins have been busy. I count 11 boxes with activity for sure. Boxes 1, 3, 4, 8 and 14 all have green leaves which is the best sign for eggs to come shortly. Boxes 2, 6, 7, 9, 12 and 13 all have good nests without green leaves. There are at least 3-6 gourds and 2 boxes with light nest activity or obvious signs of burrowing into the husks but, it's hard to tell since they were already pre-loaded with corn husks. Only one sparrow nest between the house and the gourds in box 11 and a trap has been set. Looks like the Martin pairs could be up this year at or near a possible 15, guessing on the high end. Last year 8 families made it through the entire season.

5/29-Not much change from last week, time to sit back and wait for the eggs to get laid. Boxes 1, 3, 4, 6, and 8 all have green leaves. Boxes 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13 and 14 all have good nests without green leaves. No serious sparrow nests.

6/3-Big change from last week, eggs are arriving, now it's time to sit back and wait for more to get laid! No serious sparrow nests.

6/8-Lots of eggs this nest check. Total of 13 families with 43 eggs, a very nice mid season count!

6/13-More eggs on this nest check, but that should be it. Lost one couple for a total of 12 families with 56 eggs. Funny thing happened twice now during the nest checks. The Momma in box 4 does not seem to mind me checking out the her nest, she has stayed put on her eggs both times. I shooed her out nicely the last time and stroked her with my finger this time and it was no problem. Pretty cool!

6/18-Momma in box 4 is very determined not to be bothered by me, she stayed in the nest box again and now has two eggs that just hatched out of the 5. Found 1 egg on the ground that came out of box 14 I think because it had one missing and one sitting out of the nest towards the box opening which I put back in the nest? Box 6 had 6 eggs last nest check and is now empty. Don't know what happened, no sighs of trouble or raids by predators. House gourd 3 was chocked full of sparrow nesting material and it was removed. So, looks like we lost 7 eggs total and possibly one more.

6/18-Momma in box 4 is very determined not to be bothered by me, she stayed in the nest box again and now has two eggs that just hatched out of the 5. Found 1 egg on the ground that came out of box 14 I think because it had one missing and one sitting out of the nest towards the box opening which I put back in the nest? Box 6 had 6 eggs last nest check and is now empty. Don't know what happened, no sighs of trouble or raids by predators. House gourd 3 was chocked full of sparrow nesting material and it was removed. So, looks like we lost 7 eggs total and possibly one more.

6/23-It's been a very busy two days. I finally achieved my goal of outfitting the Martin house with an array of cams. All in all the project has been a huge learning experience and it turned out well. It really opens the door to what goes on in the life and times of the Martins as they work to raise their young.

By the numbers today: We have 13 families with 5 nests hatched out bringing in 24 new hatchlings. Next nest check should be a big hatch with 33 eggs ready to go. That's 57 possible babies. If all goes well the colony will leave the season with a proud 83 members to return next year. Seems like magic happened between this check and last nest check. Last time I recorded box 6 as having all it's eggs disappear. On this check, all six eggs were back. Now, either I read something wrong or the Parents started over. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I had a brain fart.

6/29- By the numbers today: We are now down to 11 productive families with 9 nests hatched out, 45 hatchlings and 6 eggs to go in 2 other boxes, one partial hatch (3 out of 5 hatched) and one box with 4 eggs. Instead of 33 eggs, we got 21 plus 6 unhatched so, we lost 6 eggs to natures cause. Instead of 57 possible babies we now predict 51. Still, a mighty fine brood. If all goes well the colony will leave the season with a proud 62 members plus "hanger out'ers", to return next year. Seems like magic happened between this check and last nest check again. Last time I recorded box 6 as having all it's eggs back again after doing the disappearing act and now, just so happens we have six gone again? Hum.

7/3- This year the eggs were laid at odd times. For the most part Martins lay eggs, as a colony, all at about the same time. This year, there was a 2-3 week spread between families. That means, I have to quit doing nest checks so I do not cause premature fledging.

7/12- It was a bad day for the babies in the nest box with the cam in it. Two of them fledged early, about 3 days, and the next day I found a bunch of feathers where they were perched at the bottom of the pole. When I went to work in the early AM my dog Molly was going nuts about something and was looking in the general direction of the pole. When I got home and later in the day, a big "Tom" cat was shading himself beneath one of my apple trees. Is this all coincidence? I was really hoping they would fly back up into the nest, they had the capabilities but were just too afraid. Fate, I guess.

8/15- The 2005 Martin season is over. I have not seen any Martins for about a week now with the exception of "hearing" them once. I would guess what I heard were other Martins passing through on their trip back to South America. The babies from 10 families have all fledged, 45 total. That's up one family and 11 babies from last year. Moving the gourd rack closer to the T-14 house definitely made an improvement by attracting more Martins at the beginning of the season. Only a slight improvement towards increasing the numbers of families at the end of the season. This year proved to be one of the hottest years with families laying eggs and fledging at different times versus the normal pattern of everyone being synchronized. I believe these two factors, the heat and being out of sync, had a lot to do with a decline in overall success. Considering more mating pairs were involved and occupying almost every compartment in the early stages of pairing up and nest building, there should have been a significant increase over last year's numbers.

Overall:

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

Copyright © 1998-2008 Jeffry Blair.