Babies

[ondrasmom]

I have worked too much this year and have not had time to check my nests. Is it still ok to look in and see how many babies I have. It looks like 4 gours are really busy and I can see little heads sticking out of them.

[Stephen Thomas]

ondrasmom

have worked too much this year and have not had time to check my nests. Is it still ok to look in and see how many babies I have. It looks like 4 gours are really busy and I can see little heads sticking out of them.

I am no expert since this is my first year. But in my estimation if they are sticking there heads out it would be risky to lower and look. You may get some jumpers. Then it would be hard to catch them and get them back into the gourd. Once in it also may be hard to keep them in it. If it was me I wouldn't look.

I am sure others will have an opinion on this.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I have too many gourds to do regular nest checks. The martins do quite well in most cases if you leave them alone. In your case, I would not check them, they may be too old and they may jump, then you are doing more harm than good.

I am not opposed to regularly checking nests, its an excellent way to learn more about the martins. Sometimes you can even save a few martins by doing nest checks. It also helps to keep good records as to the number of eggs, the day they hatched, etc.

If you checked them now, you wouldn't know much more than you know now since you have no records. I bet that they will be ok...

[ondrasmom]

Thanks, I am working in a county election office that has been jumping since the first of the year. Thanks again. I will just look from my window