5th year trying

[wroeske22]

In New York and have been trying to start a colony for five years now. Tonight two martins stopped by and hung out. One ASY male and a female. They came sat on the housing, talked to each other, bathed in the pond, preened their feathers, and went to the ground a few times and hung out down there. They seemed to scout the whole property. The male looked like he tried to mate with the female a couple of times but was not allowed to. They acted very confident and were never scared off by other birds. There has been many visitors in the past five years but never an adult pair that acted like they did today. They hung out from about 5-6 and we haven’t seen them since.

Wondering if they may be back or if they were just moving through based on their behavior. I’m curious to if there may be something that has made all the martins in the past not want to stay. I’ve done about everything this forum says to do to attract them. Probably just a waiting game, fingers crossed for year five.

[brent]

Hi. Sorry to hear that you’ve been waiting for so long. The behavior you described doesn’t sound like martin behavior. Martins don’t bathe in ponds or bird baths. They don’t generally go to the ground to hang out. I’ve never seen them mate (my understanding is they mate inside the gourd or compartment). I’m interested in what others might say. Good luck. Don’t give up. Brent

[wroeske22]

Thanks for the reply Brent! I don’t know if you would call it bathing or something else, but they flew over the pond, hit it with a big splash then went on the housing and preened, just like the tree swallows and barn swallows do. They were martins, and acted more comfortable and confident with the site than all the previous visitors have.

[brent]

Wow! I’ve never seen that. I’ve seen them skim the surface for water but never diving into the water. That is amazing. Thanks for sharing. Brent

[Dan G]

Looks like an attractive set up! I hope they stick around. Is than an archery target I see?