Dead Martin Mystery ??

[Hanover Bill]

I have found two dead Martins in the last couple of days. One ASY male lying on the ground, wings open, with no visible signs of trauma, and one ASY female in a gourd, also with no visible signs of trauma.

Any ideas on a cause of death?

Hanover Bill.

[Birds]

Do you have house sparrows? I had a blue bird and a tree swallow die from a house sparrow attack. You could not tell why they died unless you actually saw the sparrow kill the birds.

[Birds]

I could also be starlings causing the problem.

[ToyinPA]

I have found two dead Martins in the last couple of days. One ASY male lying on the ground, wings open, with no visible signs of trauma, and one ASY female in a gourd, also with no visible signs of trauma.

Any ideas on a cause of death?

Hanover Bill.

Bill:

Sorry for the loss :(. Hate to see this happen. Especially since some of us have so few.

A number of things could have caused it:

Lack of food. Weather has been pretty good for food finding the last several days here in PA, so I doubt this one.
Starvation while migrating & couldn't recoup.
A fight with another martin. Yes they can & do kill each other. I had 2 ASY-M go at it last year & 1 ended up dead.
He/she flew in too fast & hit the gourd, but made it inside & died. Had a female do that once.
A starling attack can cause internal, but not external injuries. The martin may die later in a few days or so.
Same with HS attack. No visible external injuries, but was hit too many times causing internal injuries.
Stress. If under attack they can have a heart attack due to stress & die.
Old age. Sadly they make the long trip here & are just too old to keep going.
A virus or bacteria infection. Runny or bloody poop in the nest would or should be visible in this case, unless it was respiratory.

Unless you see external injuries or saw them get killed there is no real way of knowing. Either way it was a hard loss for your colony.

Toy in PA

[Dave Duit]

Sorry to hear about the loss. I suspect a sparrow attack. Starling attacks will sometimes kill by poking out the martins eyes or pecking their hear raw. I don't mean to be so graphic, but it educates on the likely culprits.

[John & Linda - KY]

Martins are like people - every one that is born (hatched) is going to die unless Jesus returns first. I'm amazed that we don't find more dead birds at our colonies. Maybe most of the marginally fit perish during the migrations. -- John

[Doug Martin - PA]

Hi Bill,

Not much info to go by on this one. The weather has been borderline but not Martin killing weather.

I would suspect a wing entrapment or a fight or both. Wings sprawled on ground tells me exhaustion. Sounds like the female was trapped inside perhaps with another male that may have pushed its way out. Not sure how many birds you have so far but I am about full and fights are breaking out. Also not sure how visible the cavity is the female was in. Perhaps on other side of your view?

It happens though.

Doug

[Archer]

A protruding keel(breast bone) would indicate starvation. Something to look for.