PM Hawk Attack - Single Parent Nest

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JohnnyD
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2015 2:21 pm
Location: White Oak, TX

We've had 2 nesting PM pairs...one pair that has a nest w/5 eggs. We have decoys placed to help, but I recently witnessed a hawk successfully grab one of our females off the nearby power line where she liked to perch. We are now concerned about her eggs...will her male PM partner stay with them until they hatch, or another female step it?...or will all the eggs now die that she be gone?

Thx for info.
Barry Wallace
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:29 am
Location: (Wisconsin) Cumberland

Sorry to hear about your lost female, unfortunately that nest will be lost. Hopefully the male can attract a new female and start from scratch.
Landlord since 1987
Jim 1990
Posts: 254
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:08 am
Location: Fort wayne IN

I had the same thing happen a couple years ago I had a nest camera in the gourd and watched them build the nest and lay eggs . Then when I watched the nest with the camera all I seen for a long time was just the male, He would sit on the eggs for a while then go up and sit on the inside porch looking out and waiting for her to come back
Then 3 days later he had a mate and she laid 5 new eggs and they all fledged
I am not sure if a hawk got her as I seen one come around . But she may have not come back for other reasons that I will never know .It was sad to see her and him work so hard on the nest and lay all those eggs then the female went missing. But that is nature and with 64 pairs of martins I need to except that this stuff is going to happen.
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