What are the chances

JamesinIA · Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:16 pm

What are the chances that a new nest of eggs will make it to fledge this late in the season. At a golf course colony that I have been taking care of this season I found a nest of four eggs that were not there on July 11. If they do hatch and survive they would fledge the end of Aug. The latest nest in the colony is due to fledge the end of July. I did not see if the parents are ASY or SY but plan to watch that nest to find out. Have any of you had success with a nest this late?

phldave · Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:11 pm

JamesinIA wrote:What are the chances that a new nest of eggs will make it to fledge this late in the season. At a golf course colony that I have been taking care of this season I found a nest of four eggs that were not there on July 11. If they do hatch and survive they would fledge the end of Aug. The latest nest in the colony is due to fledge the end of July. I did not see if the parents are ASY or SY but plan to watch that nest to find out. Have any of you had success with a nest this late?

James, that's amazing that you have such a late clutch. Kind of goes right along with everything else weird I have been reading about this season. I hope they successfully fledge.

JJ Jones · Thu Jul 17, 2014 1:07 am

James,

I have had this happen at my site a few years ago. All fledged at the end of August. My records show - August 24th, 2012.

Emil Pampell-Tx · Thu Jul 17, 2014 5:58 am

Yes, its very possible for them to fledge, it all depends upon the amount of food that the parents can find, and it depends upon the parents. Often only the female will remain to feed them, so smaller clutches can be expected.

One year, I had 3 late clutches that fledged in the middle of August, right before a hurricane came. They seemed to do quite well.

JamesinIA · Thu Jul 17, 2014 6:42 am

Sounds hopeful, thanks for the replies. I will be doing nest checks a couple times a week to keep tabs on what is going on.

lynnh · Thu Jul 17, 2014 7:46 am

Wow James, thats crazy ! I think they have a good chance of making it if the parents are good caregivers.The last of 3 late nests hatched on the 14th at my home colony here,they all seem to be doing fine.

JamesinIA · Fri Aug 01, 2014 5:18 pm

I did a nest check today and all four eggs have hatched in the past couple of days. Two of the hatchlings are larger than the other two. The parents are both SY birds so I hope that they will stick with feeding them until they fledge. There are no active nests left in the colony of 27 pair but I did see at least 6 other martins hanging around when I lowered the rack. The weather has been so nice for the end of July and early August that there should be plenty of food available. I will keep doing nest checks a couple times a week.

John Evans · Fri Aug 01, 2014 9:02 pm

Shouldn't be a problem. They have time to get big and healthy before they make the journey.

Dave Duit · Sun Aug 03, 2014 1:09 pm

Hi James,
I have the same situation at my colony. Things should be fine with our locations and amount of insects.

lynnh · Sun Aug 03, 2014 1:25 pm

Hi James , they will probably be fine. We have 3 nests left to fledge yet, they are doing great so far.