Mature males dying

[Rafke77]

This happened to us several years back and I'm curious if anyone else has the same experience.

I have not found any females or younger males, just mature males. We've found them under my gourd racks, in the middle of the lawn, near walls, pretty much it's like they just dropped dead wherever they're at. I had one a few days ago which I noticed was still alive and a female was next to it in the lawn, underneath the gourds. She flew away we put him in a little Tupperware with some towels and in our garage under a heat lamp thinking he may have flew into something and was in shock. I returned an hour later to find him dead.

It appears all of the ones we've found deceased have had a swollen vent. We're planning on lowering our racks this afternoon to see if there's any other dead ones inside of them. But we found a total of approximately 9 so far, all males, all after second year.

For anyone's interest here is a link to a Google album where I've uploaded pictures. And for reference I'm a northern indiana. It's been cool out here the last week but not colder when they first arrived in mid-March.

Is it possible this is just the life cycle and the older males are fighting for dominance?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DVxVHX5aQdwGUsHX9

[Rafke77]

Just finished our nest check and found 9 more dead, 3 being females. I added the pictures to the album in my last post. I put what i assumed was the most recent dead in a ziplock bag, in the freezer and will be contacting our local Purdue Extension to see if they'd be interested in studying it.

Anyone ever have similar issues?

[randyM]

If you've experienced persistent cool rainy weather in your area for more than 5 consecutive days, that's likely the cause of your martin losses (limited feeding opportunities). At my colony in northern SD I recovered 51 ASY males and 33 ASY females that perished due to the prolonged cool and rainy weather and found wings of many other's that had been scavenged by predators. Other landlords in this area also have reported more ASY male losses than ASY female losses. The ASY martins at my site were in the late nest building stage with only a few nests having and egg or two at the onset of the week-long rain and wind. It is likely the ASY females were in their highest body condition of the year, just prior to egg laying, so perhaps had a day or two more of stored energy for egg production that got most of them through the cold spell. Prior to the cold weather, many of the ASY males were likely not feeding as heavily and were busy guarding their mates or trying to chase/defend other martins from their cavities, or perhaps trying to attract a female and not spending much time out searching for food, thus had comparably lower body condition than ASY females. There were only a handful of SY males and females at my site during the inclement weather, and they had not yet started nest building or pairing, so perhaps spent more time searching for food than the ASY males. I can't say for certain this is why more ASY males perished compared to ASY females or SY martins, but it seems plausible to me. Of those ASY males that perished at my site, 8 were banded at my site in previous years, ranging from 8 years old to 2 years old, with an even representation across all years in-between, thus, older ASY males perished at a similar rate as mid-aged and younger ASY males at my colony.

Hopefully weather in your area improves soon. We've had 2 consecutive really good weather days and a few martins at my site are just beginning to resume nest building after a 10-day weather-induced break...slowly getting back to "normal" here.

Randy

[Safetypro2008]

Just finished our nest check and found 9 more dead, 3 being females. I added the pictures to the album in my last post. I put what i assumed was the most recent dead in a ziplock bag, in the freezer and will be contacting our local Purdue Extension to see if they'd be interested in studying it.

Anyone ever have similar issues?

We had this happen last week on (May 22,23,24, 2025) Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We lost over 15 mostly mature Martins, mostly males, but a few females as well. I agree about the weather, they survived colder weather earlier in the spring. (every year)
Many Facebook posts on Michigan Purple Martin Friends in the last few days about the die off throughout the state. Split opinions on whether it is lack of food/cold, or something else. Any nests of ours that contained dead were cleaned out and disinfected, then refilled with pine needles. None of the remaining (or new?) birds go near those gourds.
I am calling our State of Michigan DNR this morning to see if they are interested in looking at a sample that i saved in the freezer. (well wrapped!!)
Best of luck to all............

[Rafke77]

Thank you for the response Randy, that does make sense. We've had warmer weather recently and we have not located any more deceased.

With that being said, it amazed me that they arrive typically in late March when it's much colder for now extended periods of time and i don't find them dead like this.

On the males you found, did any of them appear to have swollen vents like the ones in my pictures? My wife and i had found that odd.

-Rob

If you've experienced persistent cool rainy weather in your area for more than 5 consecutive days, that's likely the cause of your martin losses (limited feeding opportunities). At my colony in northern SD I recovered 51 ASY males and 33 ASY females that perished due to the prolonged cool and rainy weather and found wings of many other's that had been scavenged by predators. Other landlords in this area also have reported more ASY male losses than ASY female losses. The ASY martins at my site were in the late nest building stage with only a few nests having and egg or two at the onset of the week-long rain and wind. It is likely the ASY females were in their highest body condition of the year, just prior to egg laying, so perhaps had a day or two more of stored energy for egg production that got most of them through the cold spell. Prior to the cold weather, many of the ASY males were likely not feeding as heavily and were busy guarding their mates or trying to chase/defend other martins from their cavities, or perhaps trying to attract a female and not spending much time out searching for food, thus had comparably lower body condition than ASY females. There were only a handful of SY males and females at my site during the inclement weather, and they had not yet started nest building or pairing, so perhaps spent more time searching for food than the ASY males. I can't say for certain this is why more ASY males perished compared to ASY females or SY martins, but it seems plausible to me. Of those ASY males that perished at my site, 8 were banded at my site in previous years, ranging from 8 years old to 2 years old, with an even representation across all years in-between, thus, older ASY males perished at a similar rate as mid-aged and younger ASY males at my colony.

Hopefully weather in your area improves soon. We've had 2 consecutive really good weather days and a few martins at my site are just beginning to resume nest building after a 10-day weather-induced break...slowly getting back to "normal" here.

Randy

[Rafke77]

Interesting! We have had new ones return to the ones we've found dead ones in, maybe new arrivals that don't know?

What about any of the males you found having swollen vents?

-Rob

We had this happen last week on (May 22,23,24, 2025) Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We lost over 15 mostly mature Martins, mostly males, but a few females as well. I agree about the weather, they survived colder weather earlier in the spring. (every year)
Many Facebook posts on Michigan Purple Martin Friends in the last few days about the die off throughout the state. Split opinions on whether it is lack of food/cold, or something else. Any nests of ours that contained dead were cleaned out and disinfected, then refilled with pine needles. None of the remaining (or new?) birds go near those gourds.
I am calling our State of Michigan DNR this morning to see if they are interested in looking at a sample that i saved in the freezer. (well wrapped!!)
Best of luck to all............