I am purchasing some Troyer gourds this year, and it will be my first experience with tunnels. I know they are readily accepted even here in the deep-south. My concern is with the behavior of soon to fledge young and the heat at that time. Do the young all pile up at the tunnel entrance, and have potential heat build up from the action? Or do they stay in the gourd body until it is time to fledge? Any observations?
Thanks
Sille59
Behavior in gourds with tunnels
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
It varies with different pairs. Sometimes one or two will come to the entrance, the mother sometimes pushes them back into the gourd, sometimes she feeds them at the entrance. Sometimes you don't see them until nearly fledge date.
I can see your reason for concern, and I know that it gets hot inside a plastic tunnel. For that very reason, I started making my own cedar tunnels, as they may be cooler, at least to the touch.
I can see your reason for concern, and I know that it gets hot inside a plastic tunnel. For that very reason, I started making my own cedar tunnels, as they may be cooler, at least to the touch.
PMCA Member, 250 gourds, 6 poles, 2traps
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Steve Kroenke
- Posts: 4342
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 6:49 pm
- Location: Louisiana/Logansport
I use many Troyer Gourds with tunnels. The purple martins nest successfully in these gourds. The martins and I like these gourds a lot.
As the martin nestlings get older and more mobile, they will move closer to the entrance hole to fight for food. So the youngsters may try to cluster inside the immediate tunnel area. While the babies are still small and featherless, they tend to stay down in the nesting chamber. However, under extreme heat or hunger, I have seen small babies crawl up into the tunnels in a few cases. Also sometimes a SY male martin will try to eliminate tiny martin nestlings and he may leave one in the tunnel area.
The Troyer Tunnel is about three inches wide so several large martin babies can sometimes squeeze in that area and try to stick their heads out the entrance. This is normal behavior as martin nestlings try to get as much food from their parents as they can at the entrance. You may see an older more dominate baby trying to “hog” the entrance and get most of the food. Again, this behavior is common.
I have not noticed any issues with heat because the nestlings are clustered inside the tunnel area. But I haven’t measure the temperature inside these gourds in these situations. If you vent the Troyer Gourds, then this will help to evacuate built up heat.
In my non-tunneled Super Gourds and Excluder Gourds, the larger young will cluster around the entrance, too. They just don’t have a tunnel to squeeze into first. The babies just pile up at the entrance and stick their heads out.
I think your martins will do just fine with tunnels on the Troyer Gourds under most conditions. My martins have been thriving in these gourds so far.
Steve
As the martin nestlings get older and more mobile, they will move closer to the entrance hole to fight for food. So the youngsters may try to cluster inside the immediate tunnel area. While the babies are still small and featherless, they tend to stay down in the nesting chamber. However, under extreme heat or hunger, I have seen small babies crawl up into the tunnels in a few cases. Also sometimes a SY male martin will try to eliminate tiny martin nestlings and he may leave one in the tunnel area.
The Troyer Tunnel is about three inches wide so several large martin babies can sometimes squeeze in that area and try to stick their heads out the entrance. This is normal behavior as martin nestlings try to get as much food from their parents as they can at the entrance. You may see an older more dominate baby trying to “hog” the entrance and get most of the food. Again, this behavior is common.
I have not noticed any issues with heat because the nestlings are clustered inside the tunnel area. But I haven’t measure the temperature inside these gourds in these situations. If you vent the Troyer Gourds, then this will help to evacuate built up heat.
In my non-tunneled Super Gourds and Excluder Gourds, the larger young will cluster around the entrance, too. They just don’t have a tunnel to squeeze into first. The babies just pile up at the entrance and stick their heads out.
I think your martins will do just fine with tunnels on the Troyer Gourds under most conditions. My martins have been thriving in these gourds so far.
Steve
PMCA Member
300+ pairs of martins each season
300+ pairs of martins each season