Indiana Martins having a Rainy Day

[JJ Jones]

The martins here in Indiana are really having there day with the rainfall. It looks like a break in the weather around the middle of the week. I've had a few more ASY's come in the last few days. No SY's as of yet. They normally arrive around Mothers Day. I believe we had one day here in Shelbyville that the temperature went down to 38 degrees. However, the next day it went back up to 68 degrees. A lot of activity is happenning in the morning here. The ASY Males are really trying to coax the females into there cavity. It's a great time just watching them. I enjoy them very much in the late afternoon. I have a friend (John Stepp) in Blue Ridge, IN just east of here that has about 27 martins at this time. His colony is doing very well. I hope the other Indiana colony's have a good year !

JJ

[Indiana_Tom]

Hi JJ,

We are still hanging in there. I will sure be happy to see the sun when it decides to come out. From what I hear from the weather man, that will probably be on Thursday.

I have some crickets I am going to offer my nine martins today if it will stop raining long enough for them to step out on the porch. I think mine were able to feed some on Saturday so they shouldn't be in any danger yet.

Tim from Tennessee has said there are lots of martins there waiting to head north. It will be interesting to see them the first decent day we get.

Have a good year

[JJ Jones]

Hey Tom !

Thanks for writing back. It looks like your colony is beginning to size up. That's great ! You are right. According to the weather pattern & forecasting, Thursday and Friday should be good days for our martins. Our martins here have been feeding during the breaks between the rain.

The ASY males are really having a time with the females. I've notice some tough battles between the males. If this keeps going on, I can't imagine what it will be like when the SY's get here.

Good Luck with your colony!

JJ

[flyin-lowe]

When I saw the radar this morning it looked as if central IN was going to have a break in the rain for a couple of hours. So far it was raining when I left for work and has not stopped raining all day. I know mine were able to feed on Saturday, and yesterday I went most of the afternoon without rain. Maybe a break today or tomorrow and they should be good until Thursday when it dries out. So far I have seen two pair at my place but when I left for work this morning it looked like 3 ASY males were on my T14 so I might have picked up another. I didn't see any females.

[JJ Jones]

Hey there Flyin Lowe,

You are so right about the break in the weather. As of this minute, there has been no precipitation for about 2 hours. Our martins are out feeding like a frenzy. Can't blame them one bit. If these low pressure systems can get a move on we will be having better weather ahead and SY's to boot.

Thanks for writing !

JJ Jones
Shelbyville, IN

[flyin-lowe]

Shortly after my last post I left my office and it quit raining and so far it has been dry and no wind. Since I have been home I haven't seen any martins so like you I assume they are out getting a well deserved meal. As long as they can feed today for a couple hours I won't worry about them making it until Thursday morning for the weather to break, I am sure there will be some more breaks in the rain between now and then.

[Indiana_Tom]

I sat out in my field a good part of the afternoon watching the martins. I figured they were doing ok althought I was a little worried because it had rained all day yesterday and this morning and we were supposed to get rain through Wednesday.

I had two groups of frozen crickets and decided I would try to feed one container (100 crickets) to them.

I started at noon because I wanted to feed them before they left for the afternoon to try to feed if they could.

My flipping would be best called a flop. I might have even hit a martin or two in the head with a nice medium sized cricket. Not a nibble. I lowered the housing and put about 50 on the porches. At least they would have to walk past them to get in the gourds which several did.

By 1:00pm, the clouds had parted and we had about an hour and a half of partly cloudy weather with a fair amount of sunshine.

Either my martins knew this was coming, they were not hungry, I didn't do it right or they didn't go to supplimental feeding school while in Brazil.

Either way, they had a good afternoon to feed on their own and should be fine until this rain ends.

[JJ Jones]

Tom,

Just like you when the weather broke, WOW! Our martins went on an eating frenzy. I was watching them actually catching some of the flying insects around our yard. It was great to see them swooping around the property skimming the ground and water.

On another note; have you seen any Barn Swallows yet? I did see some chimney swifts today around here. It still maybe a little bit early for the barn swallows.

I've got my hummingbird feeders out and ready but haven't seen any of them either. Our hummers are fun to watch also. Good to hear that your martins took to feeding on their own. That was a lot of work for you to flip those crickets. Sometimes I wonder how & what they feed on in Brazil, S.A. I wonder if they have dragonfly's there?

Keep the faith & happy martinering,

JJ Jones
Shelbyville, IN

[Ladybug]

Yes: We have had rain daily. Thank goodness for the small breaks
we have had. My female has been absent 5 days today. The ASY
did not return today either. I have a pair of tree swallows, they
have their own Gourds way in the back pasture.
Except they, of course want the Martin gourds. I've seen the TS
chase the ASY 2x. but that was a few days ago. I'm up early observing.
Most times they have been OK together. Weather is a big factor, I know.
I did get some photos of the Martin pair earlier. Not processed photos yet. This Friday, Saturday is to be sunny, warm , clear. That should be a good Martin day. I will wait patiently. Joanne

[Indiana_Tom]

Hey JJ,

I have not seen any barnies yet. They should be here soon. The TS have been all over but I don't think they are interested in the gourds I have out for them.

We have had hummingbirds for about a week now. I have seen two males at the feeder but as far as I know that is all their is.

We have a Downy woodpecker that has been feeding at the hummingbird feeder. He is funny to watch. It seems like he opens his beek and sticks the bottom half into the sugar water. I haven't seen him there when a hummingbird comes along. I am interested is seeing how they react to each other.

You know, I spent three years in Panama and have been in every country in Central America and South America but I couldn't tell you about dragon flys there. Of course that was thirty years ago.


Ladybug,

Good to hear from you. Your female being gone for five days and your male for one would have me worried.

I had martins here last year and it was fun to watch the martins run off the tree swallows this year. I had 5 TS trying to buzz the martins and the martins didn't care. When the martins did notice, they sent the TS packing.

I hope you have a good year. We are trying to keep a thread open for Hoosiers. Whwn it gets too long we start another. Keep us up to date on how you are doing.

Good luck to all.

[Rich Jewell In]

Same thing up north here. Rain and then sun. Martins feeding in-between. Funny thing happened. I shot a starling and 2 minutes later a hawk flew down to the ground and picked him up. 5 minutes later I shot another and sure enough here came the hawk. That was a couple of days ago and I haven't seen the hawk since. I've shot a couple of sparrows and no hawk. They all stay away for now.

[flyin-lowe]

I was glad it hasn't rained today but the winds are over 20 mph sustained so I sill don't think they are able to feed. They have been hanging around the house most of the day. They got to feed yesterday so all is good. I currently have 3 ASY males and 2 ASY females that have been here for a couple days. I am hoping to have some more returns once this front passes through and it warms up.

[Indiana_Tom]

I agree flyin-lowe,

It is a little too windy for them to be able to feed much. Maybe a little. I lucked out here when the sun popped out yesterday and stayed out for almost two hours. I know my martins were getting fed.

This has been a strange year. I had 4 pair last year. Two older pair and two young pair.

This year, I have had 4 pair here for a while. Three weeks anyway. I think I have 5 pair here now. I know I have 4 and two extra martins. I think the last two are paired up now. I feel very lucky to have so many here already and am looking forward to the subbies heading this way. I can accommodate 20 pair, of course I don't figure on being full up. If I can get 10 pair, I will be extremely happy.

I need to build another sparrow trap. I have the plans for a tunnel trap that is supposed to be good. I already have the wire. I also have the material and was going to build a nesting house elevator trap just for them.

Well, I guess there is always something to do.

[flyin-lowe]

I am thinking about building a V trap. They can catch huge amounts of S&S. I might make it smaller then the plans call for as the original design is huge. I want to be able to put it between the shed and fence so I can keep it out of site.

[JJ Jones]

Tom,

I wanted you to know that I saw a hummer this evening while watching the martins come in. It was a great sight to see him. No visuals of the SY movement up this way yet. Should be anytime when the weather fronts tame down a little. I currently have around (20) martins here at my colony and they had a very good day feeding. It briefly rained this afternoon for a little bit and then cleared up. Again, the martins went back to their usual business in feeding and courting. I'll let you know when I see a Barn Swallow in my area.

JJ Jones