Migration Update-2011

[John Barrow]

Hi Friends,

Just an update on my thoughts about migration. We are seeing a steady stream of smaller numbers of migrants in South Texas riding the high winds. Birds arriving currently seem to be coming from the south toward Mexico, meaning there are shorter trans Gulf attempts. Certainly the strong southerly winds make that an easy approach.

My first arrival was on Jan. 23, and it was nearly two weeks before he found a friend-another male. Within a few days a female arrived and pretty much broke up any friendship between the males.

Tonight I counted 24 martins flying over my systems-some obviously migrants. That is in increase from 15 yesterday. We have observed some limited arrivals during each of the windy days of the week.

While prevailing winds from the east-southeast will allow migration to move forward, I do not feel we have seen a significant surge to date. East-southeast winds in my area are common. We will have similar strong winds from now until July . Another key to migration is timing. The peak of migration typically begins in mid March through mid April. We are not there at this point. Lots of martins are arriving now, but we have yet to witness a massive general arrival. It would not surprise me to see the first later in this week.

Keep your hopes high, but don't let them get out of hand. There is still lots of time left for migration, and the peak is nearly a month away.

Best wishes to all landlords.

[Guest]

John I read somewhere that PM's will fly at an altitude as high as 15,000
feet looking for favorable winds but usually will migrate at much lower altitudes.The winds at 3 to 6 thousand feet seem to be the most consistant as far as being right for Louisiana and Texas for the last week.
Do you look at these winds in your forecasting,winds aloft and surface winds do usually follow one another but not always.

Just Curious

dick

[John Barrow]

Dick,
That's interesting to read about martins migrating up to 15,000 feet. I have a landlord friend who owns a plane and says he's observed them over 5,000 feet--maybe up to 7,000, but I did not realize they went much higher than that. The Gulf Coast Bird Observatory has been doing a lot of analysis of general migration by radar tracking and could certainly offer insight into flight heights of bird species in general.

As far as my migration observations, I have never used wind maps to calculate those. I do recognize when it is windy and can observe the movement of clouds aloft, but have not utilized maps. I pretty fully exposed my observations about migration in my Update article First Stop USA-a Look at Migration along the Texas Coast that published last spring. The article sets out timing patterns that I have observed and recorded for a number of years at several locations along the Texas coast. As you know, timing sequence is fairly consistent with respect to numbers and keyed to age of returning birds. I think one message I wanted to share in that article is that many folks want to believe the extent of migration during its earliest weeks is much more significant than it really is. Those of us who live in proximity to the coast--and I include landlords like yourself, who live more inland--have the opportunity to observe first hand how limited these initial arrivals are. That migration is a spectacle that really begins along the Coast in mid-February, and peaks in March and April. The article also focuses upon the impact of earliest arrivals and their role in recruitment of other martins that will dictate to a large extent who shares in the earliest migration, versus who might not even see a martin.

I am one of several landlords who live along the coast who, based on experiences and observations, seem to sense when a general arrival will occur. In most cases, my assumptions have proven correct. As mentioned in my article, and as frequently noted among coastal landlords, large general arrivals often occur in interchange with the worst possible conditions. That would indicate that large masses of migrants push northward from Mexico at a time when winds aloft are shifting to the north, while prevailing surface winds are strong from the south. I don't know what causes this surge, anymore than I know what causes movement in a red ant bed to increase dramatically a few days in advance of an approaching low weather system. Perhaps some instinct that migration needs to hasten, lest the weather becomes such that the nesting opportunity will be lost. It might be that surges are caused in reaction to movement or behavior of migratory insects. It could be a combination of any number of factors. So much about migration is yet to be learned and understood.

One significant potential of the geolocator studies, is analysis of hard data of a bird's location and movement in respect to natural phenomenon like weather, drought, food availability, etc.

Probably more than you wanted to hear, but I appreciate your interest in migration. Have a great season.

[sjsmith]

Hello John, I live in College Station TX, straight north of your place in Port O'Connor. The area i am in is a high density area for purple martins each year. I've hosted purple martins for over 30 years now and thoroughly enjoy them. I am starting over this year at a new location, still in College Station but have found your migration news very interesting. Can you tell me when you see migrations on the coast, are you seeing large numbers of them traveling together? I've often wondered if they travel in large groups or solo. Thanks for any input or wisdom you might share. I can't wait for those little fellas to find me at my new spot in town.

[Guest]

Very interesting post John.

[apundt-TX]

Steve,
Go to the search button above and then chhose Search for Author:
type in John Barrow and then you can scroll for past migration reports.

A.P.

[Linda Reynolds]

John, I for one, really appreciate your predicted arrival reports, and the first-hand reports of what you witness. I do not care if you use maps or other Internet assisted tools, but you have been *right-on* for many years. Thanks......

Hope things are progressing nicely at your place(s). Things in TN are moving along as expected. We now have our Valentine's female and she was joined by a male last evening.

Extremely windy today and now windy with rain. The two residents are doing fine, but we though we would see another one or two..........Guess we will just have to wait and see what the week brings our way.

Thanks again for your coastal reports. They are very helpful.

[John Barrow]

Steve, I sold my house in Port O'Connor in August, 2008, right before Hurricane Ike and the economy collapse. Probably the smartest thing I ever did, although I miss that view of migration, and fond memories of some really special birds.

What does migration look like. It can look like this at times, or better. A shot at Adrian Hans colony in Port O, who I gave my Goliad system to when I left, featured at left in the photo, and a migration magnet for many years at my site, a mile or less to her east.

http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/download.php?id=8272

This shot is featured in my migration article, along with a picture of the goliad at my site. My greatest arrival totaled 500-1000 martins, but later in the season. You can email me and I will send you a pdf of the First Stop article, but I recommend that you join PMCA, explore their site and begin a learning experience. Many "long time" landlords have learned most of what they now know by studying what others have reported in thne last 15 years.

Linda, thank you for your well wishes. We located a geolocator return today, but believe the bird has lost its harness. Another possibility was also sighted, and we hope to catch her soon. As for my reports, I have always believed that luck trumps skill--I have been lucky in my reporting.
I am grateful for the opportunities and time I have devoted to this venture and believe the more nestchecks I do, and the more time I spend interacting and watching martins, the more luck I will have. But I never got lucky making post after post on a computer (with exception of many chats with Charlie Myers), so I'm outta here.

[Davlyn]

Hey John , nice report ! Speaking of how high a martin will fly I have a question . The other day here in South Georgia it was cloudy raining and a little cool , when the rain slacked off I walked outside and I noticed a little break in the clouds and above the clouds the sky was beautiful blue and I saw a few buzzards flying around . Now for my question if its storming here but above the thunder clouds it is nice cant the martins fly above the clouds and find food , just a thought . Wishing you a great season !

[sjsmith]

Wow, John, what a great photo! And thanks for the tips you gave me, i will check into your past reports.

[sjsmith]

John, one other note. Several years ago, i contacted my local newspaper and told them that i wanted them to run an informative ad letting the residents of our fair city know about purple martins. About a week later, a reporter called and said she thought this would make a nice human interest story and asked if she could come by. A couple of days later, she showed up with camera in hand and proceeded to take a couple of pictures of me standing next to my gourd rack. I shared with her all i knew about purple martins and handed her an article that i wanted her to post in the paper. To my surprise, when the paper came out, it was all about the self-appointed purple martin king, me. The last thing that i wanted printed! I wanted her to get valuable info out to the community about purple martins and she turned it into an article more about me than anything else. I would like to make another attempt at getting them to print something, but don't want a repeat of what happened before. So, I thought maybe you or anybody that might read this, would have some suggestions on how to get your local newspaper to actually print something that educates the public about purple martins and their care. Thanks to all in advance.

[CHenry]

I have only been doing this for a few years now and I have never heard of the martins showing this early. I see someone reported a sighting here in Tuttle OK yesturday! My goard rach isn't up completely yet, I put it up with 3 goards on it to see if I could start shooting sparrows a little early but I havnn't even seen any of those. So i guess I better get the rest og my goards up hu?

[adrianhans]

Hey John,
I have been waiting to report something knowledgeable, but as usual, these martins keep me guessing. Two weeks ago, I had 14 martins; then they left and I was down to four. Last weekend, I counted six, and by the time we left Sun., possibly 10. We are getting some transients and I do not think they are all regulars since only 2 pair go for the eggs. Something different this year for me, more females than males have shown up. It is really hard to count since the hawks are hammering the decoys and martins do not lounge around. I have driven around town and do not see much in the way of martins flying around.
As you said, we get busy around the middle of March; and of course, bad weather is already predicted for then. I am amazed at how resilient these birds are. My gourds were encased in ice during the last bad spell that had freezing temps for 3 days straight and they did fine. Anyway, I will keep my eyes open for the upcoming arrival...crickets and eggs and camera on stand by. That Lone Star you gave me is truly a magnet!
I will let all know if I see something other than the light numbers that I see presently.
Man, I love these martins!
Adrian