Raining for 2 days now.

[Matt@atx]

I never thought I would be seeing prolonged rain causing feeding issues for Martin babies in Central Texas. Its always been Summer drought central for years.. I would always be craning my neck looking for that rain cloud..
Baby feedings may be needed. Is anyone else seeing the need to feed the the youngsters that have hatched after the last 2 days in this region?

What are you gonna do Louise?

[Anthony Neira]

Matt, I'm going thru the same thing down here ! I just watch my PMs launch up in the air as soon as there is ANY Break ! The good news is that the rain brings on a Whole lot of bugs! Hang in there !

[Louise Chambers]

As long as there are breaks between storms, so the martins can feed, and temps are not cold, and it is not windy - the martins will do pretty well. We have a few that will take some food from the B&B every evening, and maybe there will be more feeding tonight, due to the weather.

Some things to check on, when you can do so without stressing the martins or keeping them from feeding:
Check for dry nests/wet nests. We've gotten a lot of rain, and some wind. Wet nests are bad for featherless nestlings, so check and replace if wet.
Watch for mite outbreaks.
Check nests for dead nestlings and remove.
Martins that lose eggs or very young nestlings will usually give it another try. I hope most of us will not have losses, though.

[BW Fowler]

I've got 6 hatchlings 1 week old in one nest and 5 in another that are 2 days old. It has been very quiet here, very little activity to be seen. Every once in a while though, I will see a parent come in, hopefully with a bug. I will do a nest check here in about an hour to check on the things that Louise mentioned and will report back. Hope we all can get through this day without any losses. I think tomorrow will have much less rain.

BW

[Matt@atx]

Thanks for all information Louise.
See, I do not think there has been significant breaks in rain the last two days over here .The clutches present yesterday were hungry end of day, I could see a definite difference.
I noticed that parents were not coming and going with food items as usual and I was present for about 2 hours. Some active clutches saw nothing until the parents returned to roost.
I got a slab of fresh beef heart right now to cut up.
Thanks for the info about parents retrying on lost eggs and young nestlings since I got what a believe is a Sparrow and possibly sub adults(s) breaking eggs. 4 newer sub adult nests have been hit so far.
If they can try again, this would be good.

[Matt@atx]

I've got 6 hatchlings 1 week old in one nest and 5 in another that are 2 days old. It has been very quiet here, very little activity to be seen. Every once in a while though, I will see a parent come in, hopefully with a bug. I will do a nest check here in about an hour to check on the things that Louise mentioned and will report back. Hope we all can get through this day without any losses. I think tomorrow will have much less rain.

BW

Hey BW,

We are in Buda too off the 1626. Good to see ya.

[Matt@atx]

Matt, I'm going thru the same thing down here ! I just watch my PMs launch up in the air as soon as there is ANY Break ! The good news is that the rain brings on a Whole lot of bugs! Hang in there !

Hey Anthony,

You guys had a big red and yellow swirl over SA on radar lately. I hope all is well with you there.
Maybe we will see a break in rain tomorrow and Friday. Weather people say 30- 40 % for Thurs. and Fri.

[BW Fowler]

Howdy Neighbor!

We're just west of 967 & 1626, off of 967. Might be able to throw a rock and hit your house, but I wouldn't want to miss and hit a gourd instead javascript:emoticon(':lol:')

Heading out now to do a nest check, will report soon.

BW

[Anthony Neira]

Thanks Matt ! I Hear it 's suppose to be less rain after this evening ? We have a better chance of spotting Big Foot BEFORE our local TV weather people get it right. I spent Monday doing my nest checks for ALL my 12 Houses & 18 gourds instead of breaking it up for 2 days, BECAUSE our TV Weather people said Monday night & all of Tuesday would have a 100% Chance of Rain ! Instead , Tuesday was very nice ! Oh ! Hey ! There he is ! Everyone here wave to Mr. B.Foot ! Wow! He IS Taller in Person !

[BW Fowler]

Nest check results show that I've got 6 one-week-olds, 6 three-day-olds, and 3 new hatchlings today (2 eggs still to go). So 3 of 7 nests have hatchlings.

I checked the one-week-old birds first, they didn't move at all. I didn't see them breathing. Good lord my heart skipped several beats. I tapped on the gourd and nothing, so I went on the others. They all popped up and wanted a bug as soon as I opened the access port, so they seem to be good. No wet nesting material that I could see.

I went back to the one-week-olds. For some reason, this time they all sat up and asked for food. Thank God they are still alive! They sure scared the you know what out of me, playing possum I guess.

Right now there is a good break in the rain, only a tiny bit of drizzle. If the rain holds off for another hour, I'll bet all the baby birds will have a full tummy tonight. I'll keep an eye on things for the rest of the evening.

Matt, Anthony, Louise, wishing you all the best, and hoping for a little dry weather over the next few days.

BW

[BW Fowler]

By the way, Matt, I see from your tagline that the drought was brutal in 2011. Sorry to know that, it must have been extremely hard to deal with. I'm pretty sure the drought played a role in the difficulty I had in attracting martins the past 5 years. There wasn't an extra drop of water anywhere to be found, and all the local ponds were dried-up. Great to have the extra rain this year, but it would be great if it were a little more spaced out.

BW

[Matt@atx]

By the way, Matt, I see from your tagline that the drought was brutal in 2011. Sorry to know that, it must have been extremely hard to deal with. I'm pretty sure the drought played a role in the difficulty I had in attracting martins the past 5 years. There wasn't an extra drop of water anywhere to be found, and all the local ponds were dried-up. Great to have the extra rain this year, but it would be great if it were a little more spaced out.

BW

Hey BW,

Are you just west of the Sonic, Dollar Store, and Cornerstone Vets and so forth which is at the 967 & 1626 on the 967?

Yes, the 2011 drought was the worst single year drought in the last 25 years in Texas from what I heard. It was dreadful and nothing to be done. We removed some from the gourds to help them and no go.

Penny up in the DFW area was packed out with baby Martins that year too.
I remember I could truthfully verify up to 3 maybe 4 that returned at night that year.
However, all the parents appeared to survive this and returned the next year which was much better.
I was running water to 10 gallons buckets for deer and everything was coming to drink there. A little Screech Owl would sit on a limb less then 10 yards out waiting for a drink of water every day. Animals would turn the buckets over to drink the sludge at the bottom. I found a Possum during this one evening. The place was a dust bowl. Big Trees set deep on the property for so many years, even decades died that year. There was a state or city park in Houston where thousands and thousands of pines died in 11. All out there was desperate until the rains came in Sept/Oct.
Though some babies may die indirectly related to heavy rain now, this is far better then that. Thank you Lord for rain. If lots of rain presents some challenges, I'll remain grateful
God willing, we will not see another Spring/Summer like that again. We can never take God's place to provide.

Hey Anthony,

Did you say you have 12 houses? How many nesting cavities do you have?

[BW Fowler]

Matt,

Yep, that's where I'm at, about 2.5 miles west from the Sonic. We moved out here in '09 from Mountain City. I must have only mowed the yard 3 times in 3 years the drought was so bad. We had a road runner that came in every summer looking for water from the birdbaths. I had to water my oak trees so to not lose them. That was a historic drought.

I remember in Mountain City that we had lots and lots of rain. I would look out at my martins and they would love to just sit out and soak up the rain. That must have been around '97-98. In '08 it just seemed to dry up for 3-4 years. Anyhow, looks like we are back to a wet cycle again.

Sorry to hear about the eggs that got pecked. Those darn sparrows seem to pop up 2 for every 1 that I get rid of. I worry all the time that they might get into a gourd but the martins seem to be pretty good at hiding their eggs under a couple layers of leaves, or to have one of the pair stick around to guard the nest when the other one is out feeding.

I hope you don't lose any young to the extended rain, and I hope there won't be any more eggs that get destroyed. Tomorrow should be a great day without too much rain.

All the best,
BW

[Anthony Neira]

Hey Matt, All my 12 houses have 6, 6"x12" Rooms, 72, up from 66 last year and 18 Gourds , up from 4 last year. 90 Cavities this year , 20 more than last. I figured " What the Heck" , I'm able to Nest Check them. I have 7 extra trios (2 are still slated for Mark !) if I win the lotto & want to buy the property next door ! I usually have anywhere from 35 to 40+ pair, but this year the SYs are tricking me by starting more than one nest ! But I do have quite a few eggs this year at least 3 nest have 6 eggs each ! Some are a little a week old, and others not hatched yet ! The ALL time best thing I've seen this season was a clutch of 4 with 2 hatchlings, and another egg rocking & cracking open !! I couldn't wait to see the birth, because MAMA Martin came along and started to buzz me! I didn't want her to be too mad, right at the birth of her baby, so I reluctantly raised the house back up to let her be there ! It was great to see her fly in even as the house was still going up ! Very Cool ! Very Honored !
P.S, Thanks BW, for the kind words, Best of luck to you also !

[Vern1]

Greetings,
It's been raining off and on for a good while here.
Yesterday it started before dawn and continued until late afternoon.
The Martins took advantage of the break and I watched them making dinner runs for the babies.

I was starting to worry as a have pinkies from newborn to 12 days in 20+ gourds as of Monday.

Today is overcast but it's not raining and the parents are busy catching up on feeding babies!

[BW Fowler]

Hey there Joe, I guess a long-time martin landlord like yourself has seen these issues before. Hope the rain will break often enough for your birds to stay fed. We have a good break today, with only one shower this morning for about 5 minutes. Even saw the sun shine a few times. Martin parents are making up for lost time and are busy, busy, busy feeding their babies. Best of luck to you this year!
BW

[Matt@atx]

Hey BW,

That's pretty close to moms. If you go from the 967 & 1626 north on the 1626(toward Manchaca), you just go to the top of that first hill, the next cross street is Jerry's Lane(no lights just a green street sign) and down that street 3 houses down on the right is mom's place with a gate in an old Spanish style fort entry way made from Lime stone that says "Hummingbird Hill" on it.
Not sure why she has continued to call it that but that's it. That's moms place, not mine. I live in Austin and come there to look after the Martins and the Blue Birds.
The Blue Birds are sitting on their 2nd clutch right now and I have seen their 3 babies from their first following them around here and there.
This is the first time I have ever seen this. Hopefully I may see them helping their parents feed their younger siblings which I have only read about.


You were right about the weather today. No rain today and no wind. Humidity makes it feel hotter then it is as well. Hope those guys are stuffin gullets today.
I know that adult Martins can go up to 3 days without food but I do not know how long babies can go. 2 days raises the brow a little. First time I've seen the reason be because of continuous rain.

[Matt@atx]

Hey Anthony,

So you got 90 nesting cavities?! That's a big colony. Do you like your houses better then you prefer the gourds? I wanted to ask you too if you think that your tunnel guardian helps keep Sparrows out of your BB box.

[BW Fowler]

Matt,

Oh sure, I know where that's at. Let me know if you ever need any help with your mom's site. I'd be happy to help-out any way I can. I think personal communications here on the forum are not working, but if you ever need to contact me directly, I think that could be arranged by going through Louise.

I'd like to put up a blue bird house for next season. I'll give you a holler when I come up with some questions.

Talk with you later,
BW

[Vern1]

Hey there Joe, I guess a long-time martin landlord like yourself has seen these issues before.
BW

What a long strange trip it's been....
I must confess that until I found this website around 2005, I was of the "ignorance is bliss" group.
Until that time when I installed my first managable gourd rack, I just put up the Heath hex or homebuilt wooden house, both with round holes and called it good.
Tried to controll S&S even then but they were thick and round holes invited Starlings to do their worst and I worked 6 days a week plus the farm work.
I averaged 4 pair of Martins in 2 houses with 28 cavities for many years.

Fast forward to today.
This has been the strangest roller coaster year ever for me and my Martins.
My first bird arrived on Feb 9th and I had 12-18 birds to nurse thru the freezing weather.
Luckily a few remembered cricket flipping from a few years ago and after the second time I fed them this way this season, they would line up on the perches and follow me around if they heard me outside.
Then the weather got good and the Martins arrived and thrived.
Then it started raining but luckily it's stopped and cleared enough to allow feeding.
Right now, I have a lot of tiny pinkies that need feeding and the demand is going to continue to ramp up as more and more are born and they get bigger.
Add in a Great Horned Owl attack that we fended off with an empty paintball gun and a new bulb in the nightwatchman light, and it's raining again!!!!

We have had 15" spread over the last month with 10" of that in 9 days.
But the hay field looks good and there are plenty of insects to feed on when they can feed on them....
And for exercise, I get to repair the fence on the creek bottom...again...LOL!