Question for Mary Dawnsong!

[Martin man RI]

Hi Mary
In the month of May New England was hit with the worst spring weather in almost one hundred years many martins died because of this weather event
now i have been a landlord since 1994 and what i'm seeing is many of the young SY birds are doing clutches of five eggs over the years the aveage
is four and three eggs here. Is this because of the large numer of martins
killed here? And mother nature is feeling a little guilty about what she has done and have you ever had this experience in your area with young birds
acting like adults and getting right down to business almost
gives you the feeling that they know what happen right before they got here.
And the units used are large and the small trio units so size is not a
issue with these birds. They just seem like they are on a mission to re-populate with as many chicks as possible to make up for there older
generation that was killed last month. Thanks Ray in Rhode Island

[Laverne]

Hi Ray.

I don't know where Mary is - probably taking care of business.

I remember the "Nor-easter" y'all had that killed all the martins. I am very happy to hear the 'second string' of subbies has come in to save the season.

It makes sense to me that they would be strictly breeding business minded. I imagine it was kinda spooky for them to return to complete silence instead of hearing Dawnsinging on the morning air...

Best of luck to you and all the other landlords in New England. May your colonies have continued success.