Devastated - Martins Are Gone - Owl Attack?

[WanderingPM]

This was to be a break out year. I had two successful pairs last year. There were 5 nesting pairs this year with two of those pairs have nestlings (6 in one and 4 in the other). They were a delight to watch in the morning and the evening with all of their activity and filling the air with their song.

Last week I went on a business trip and returned a week later to no Martins flying or song. Nest check revealed that there were 5 dead nestlings with only one alive of the 6 - 4 of them were out on the porch? No immediate evidence of why they were dead. The 4 in the other nest appeared to be fine (this was an older group). Could not figure out where the parents and other pairs had gone. There has been a lightning storm the night before but nothing out of the ordinary for Northern Virginia.

Today I did another nest check and all of the nestlings had died - probably by lack of food, water and warmth. I am devastated with some feelings of guilt. I know this is just nature but somehow I feel that I let the Martins down.

Any thoughts on what might have happened to the adult Martins while I was gone? I have a Trendsetter 12 which I thought was suppose to offer good owl protection?

[~Ray~Gingerich]

It might be a result of the bad weather and cold temperatures we had the first part of June. If you remove the dead there's still a slight possibility of renesting

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Sorry to hear this. Difficult to say, because a snake would eat the babies. If an owl is successful, it will come back to try some more but I wonder why it did not grab the babies. Or it could be a hawk caught the mothers.

Prevention that may help:
1) A wire cage around the birdhouse, using 2in x 4in squares
2) A good predator guard
3) Maybe the trees are too close, could you remove some nearby trees? Trees that are too close give a hawk the advantage
4) Maybe your compartments are too small (I do not know the size of the compartments in your Trendsetter..). If they are small, maybe you could enlarge them in the offseason

[John Miller]

This will take some detective work. If the nestlings were out on the porch, I'd suspect they were starving.

I don't know, but is there any chance a kid might might have shot the adults? Grasping at straws maybe. But, I don't think a hawk or owl would have picked all the adults all off that quickly.

A severe weather event might have killed the adults, but would have to be severe or prolonged.

Check the ground for clues -- owl feathers -- walk the grounds around the housing looking for bird parts I guess. Just hard to say, but look for clues. Wet nests can kill, but usually won't force babies out onto a porch. consider any other human causes. Any other dead adult birds of other species around?

John

[wastrox]

I'm in Northern VA too and I found 3 dead nestlings on the porch and one on the ground. I also found 2 or 3 eggs on the porch. I was assuming it was an aggressive SY male yanking the babies out but now I wonder based on some speculation about starvation. I would have experienced the same weather stressors. I found mine dead on Sunday and they looked to be dead 36 hours max. Any additional theories based on my losses in the same region?

[KathyF]

As others have mentioned - could be a hawk, or owl caught the parents. As John mentions, walk the grounds, check for owl feathers, bird feathers, etc.

Do you have a predator guard on your pole for your housing to prevent climbing racoons? The reported signs of a racoon are blood on the housing and wings on the ground....something to look for.

My first owl attacks were on my Trendsetter 12. He would grasp the porches and martins would flush - he was grabbing them as they flushed. I highly recommend a cage for your Trendsetter.

http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com/2014/05 ... -thee.html