Hy all,
Well it finally happened this year! I am officially on the map! I had just finished posting to James Strickland about you never know, walked back to the window to stare out as I do every morning, and here he came. An ASY male dropped out of the sky landing on the gourd rack. He sat for about ten minutes and proceeded to check out three gourds.
After he left I posted my report and as I sit here I can here that he is back! So I gota go! I got something else to do
Congrats I spent 5 years like you. Watching, watching, and watching. So I know how you feel right now. I would say you will know within a couple days if he is going to stay. (hopefully he will). The good news is that an ASY male can really kick start a colony. I had one ASY male show up my first year and he attracted 5 SY pair. I ended having one pair leave for some reason after laying one egg. Anyway if he sticks around for a couple days and draws in a female you should be good.
Martin Colony History: 2010-2014 located in Slidell LA. Gourd rack with 16 gourds. Max of 2 pairs during this short period in Slidell. Plenty of fledglings.
2014-present.. moved to Broussard LA. Same Gourd Rack but added a 6 room house (modified from a 12 room)
2020: after a long drought of nothing, 4 pairs and 4 nests, 23 eggs total. 6 fledges.
2021: 9 pair, 47 eggs 36 hatchlings 30 fledged
2022: about 12 pairs.. many eggs, all fledged.. only had one hatchling die.. probably because of our schnauzer. :(
2023: 16 pairs. So far about 60 chicks with about a dozen eggs to go.
David,
Yes I reported it. I was told when I first joined to post a scout report when a scout checks out "your" site. There are quite a few who do it that way from what I understand. I quess it could by technically incorrect. If they don't want it they can kick it off or not post it. What do I care, I HAVE A VISITOR!
Hey Congrats!!!!.. I was just stiin here wondering if I would have waited and watced for that lenght of time or moved onto another interest. I was very lucky. 2010 I took a picture of a couple of birds sleeping on my covered patio fan blades, showed it to my co worker and he knew they were martins and most likely just stopping by on the way to S.A. for migration. He talked me in puting up housing last november, and today I have over 20/30 martins here at any given time 5 mating pairs that I'm sure of and lots of SY's just came in last week.
So I'm hoping you will get more and they will stay. Good luck
Einstein, Ouwie-Gator (my Jack Russells) and I love sitting in the back yard watchinh the PM's play and sing.
PMCA Member since 2010
Super System 24, All Troyer W/Conley 2 entrances.
Martin Colony History: 2009-2015-Helped to manage Raleigh site, 36 cavities 2016- 33 pairs at Raleigh site, 1 pair at home site. 2017- 34 pairs at Raleigh site, 3 pairs + extra SYs at home site 2018- 33 pairs at Raleigh site, 5 pairs + extra SYs at home site 2019 - 32 pairs at Raleigh site, 7 pairs at home site, 2 pairs at new Holly Springs park site
This is awesome, Tony! I am really happy for you!!
I am confused about the scout reports though, and maybe Louise can clear this up for me. I thought that only active sites that had martins last year were supposed to post scout reports. If not, I could have posted one last year when I had an ASY male for 5 days. This is taken off the scout report page:
PLEASE NOTE: We are only interested in "scout" dates from active sites (i.e., sites that housed breeding Purple Martins last year), and are only interested in the date of first sighting of adult martins seen perched on martin housing (or seen or heard flying above active martin housing). If the site did not have breeding Purple Martins last year, we do not want your adult (ASY) date, just your subadult male (SY-M) date. Subadult female reports are not collected due to the level of difficulty in accurately identifying them. Thanks!
Tony,
I am continuing to tell these passing through Martins that you have housing, and I personally know there there are lots of Bugs in Mississippi!
Sue
Chris,
They have always posted my reports before, And Louise knows I'm not an established site. You got me!
Paul,
I've had visitors for the past 3 years. I even had a pair stay for 2 nights last year before moving on.
Sue,
You just keep on telling them. I appreciate it!
He's been coming and going for about 2 hours now. He seems to be real comfortable here. He doesn't mind me being in the yard under him. Some have before. He's trying to find those birds on the dawnsong
Tony, I think you're supposed to turn off the dawnsong, once you have a martin investigating your housing....others will hopefully chime in that have more experience with the dawnsong.
"Sometimes", said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."
2023 - 82 pair
2022 - 80 pair
2021 - 75 pair
2020 - 78 pair
2019 - 80 pair http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com
Martin Colony History: First pair in 2009 after 28 years of trying. 3 pairs 2010, 17 pairs 2011 and 35-45 pairs since. Many additional colonies are now springing up around mine in an area once completely void of Martins. I offer 50 compartments at my site consisting of primarily Excluder II gourds on Gemini racks. Also a wooden T-14. I utilize electric fence type predator guards on the base of the poles. Supplemental feeding is crucial in maintaining my colony. I platform feed throughout the season as needed. My site tends to be a stop over point for additional birds as they migrate further north.
You can leave your Dawnsong on low. Just don't let it crank when he is there.
Your job now is to make friends with him. He will be under peer pressure to go elsewhere. So spend plenty of time out there with him.
Do you have pine straw in the gourds?
Doug
Supplemental feeding plays a major role in Western Pennsylvania. Finally got my 1st pair in 2009 after 28 years of effort. The colony has grown quickly to 45 pairs that I care for. Many new colonies have now sprung up around me in the past few years as well. Where there was none.... there is many.
My thoughts were this morning was that I know he would eventually leave to go feed, which he did. I thought I would keep him here as long as possible the first day. The longer he's here the more familiar and comfortable he would feel. If he feels comfortable maybe he will come back after he eats.
Doug,
My player won't play very loud anyway. So I let it play. It's now off so we'll see what happens. I took the day off to spend as much time with him as possible. Yes I do have pine straw in every gourd and mud in some. He only checked out 3 and only entered 1. But he went in that one several times and stayed in there for about 5 minutes at a time.
I hope to see him again but it has certainly been an exciting day!
Congratulations Tony! Some showed up at my place this morning also. I have the day off so I can spend all day watching for them. I can already tell that I am going to have to sleep on a heating pad tonight. My neck is already sore from looking up so much, and I've got a lot of day left. It will be worth a sore neck just to watch them as they fly.
