Late Nesting in Missouri

[KathyF]

I just did another nest check on Sunday and found a new nest with 4 eggs started by an adult pair. According to my records they started the nest either on June 16th or June 17th.

Yikes!! This puts them to the end of July for fledging. This is the latest nest I've ever had. Hope they make it!!!

[Stephen Thomas]

good luck to you on your late nest.

[Louise Chambers]

Kathy,

We have a few new, late nests too - your martins can join up with ours for the trip south

[John Miller]

Hi Kathy

I had one late nest last year, 2009, fledge Aug. 6 and in 2008 on Aug. 11. The one in 2008 was in a plastic gourd and I really fretted over heat. I added a big one inch PVC elbo vent in the lid, and covered the gourd for a time with a white ball cap. All fledged fine.

John M

[Show-Me-Mike]

Hi Kathy,

This year has been odd in that we had above normal rainfall and and somewhat cooler tempatures through May in northwest Missouri. As a result, my 32 pair of martins started and stopped nest building, egg laying etc. through the same time period as the rainy weather. Egg laying here ended around June 10-12. I estimate that 75%+ of my hatchings will fledge around the 3rd week of July or so.....extremely late. All of which means that the migration of my bunch won't really begin until the 2nd week of August. Again, quite late. On the plus side of it all, we'll be able to enjoy our martins for a while longer than usual!

Best wishes to all for a successful conclusion to the martin season!

[ToyinPA]

We had a late nesting in 2008. 3 Eggs hatched end of July. They all survived & fledged end of August.

I have a pair right now that lost all their chicks. They're still hanging around & it's possible they may renest.

ToyinPA

[Jeff Robinson]

Late nesting pair here too Kathy. They paired up last week (SYs) and I'm pretty sure she's been sitting on eggs the past couple days. One of my gourds is getting ready to fledge, so I can't pull down the rack to confirm. Lot's of subbie activity the past couple weeks - had 2 more show up tonight.

[Bob]

Kathy,

I had a SY female show up this morning, all by herself. She sure caught the attention of the 2 SY males I have. Every time she landed on one of the houses, the 2 males were there fighting each other to get her attention. When every she flew off, they followed right behind.

Hopefully she will decide to stay and if so, she will just be starting her nest as the rest of my pairs have already started feeding young.

[Craig Dyer]

Hi Kathy,

I hosted 38 pairs this season, and fledged over 175 young. There is one remaining nest, with five young, yet to fledge any day. Much to my surprise, I noticed a sub-adult pair nest building late last week. An end of the season nest check confirmed four new eggs by the sub-adult pair. Talk about late nesting. By North Texas standards, this is really late. The temperature is already in the 100s daily, with the hottest part of the summer yet to come. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for these late nesters.

[KathyF]

Wow - it sounds like my late nesters are going to have a lot of friends to bly back home with!!

Thanks for all the replies - I'll let them know!