New Hatchlings July 13?

[Jones4381]

I've seen this topic occasionally and Brent in LA is experiencing it now in the deep south, I've just joined this concerning club of late hatchlings. At this colony we've had approximately 75% breeding/raising/leaving completed. Yesterday doing spot checks on the 15 gourds with youngsters left, I decided to check on Gourd 3 Rack 1 that's had 3 eggs in it, seemingly forever, and yesterday uncovered 3 pinkies about 2-3days old. The next youngest gourd is 12 days, 18, 19, 22, etc...

The colony has left for roosting earlier every year as the colony grows, but typically leaves end of July or first week of August in the S.W. portions of VA. What is the percentage this last pair goes through with the process and joins up with the Roost? I'll be an interested observer to see and report if this late pair and babies makes it. Been a challenging year thus far but should have a decent number of fledglings to report but many losses too unfortunately.... Best wishes from VA.

[brent]

Hi Jones. Yes, my little ones are now 20 days old. Last nest check was 2 days ago. All looked fine. To answer your question I can only say that everyday I have counted 28+ visitors that stay all morning into the afternoon. I think they know that there are chicks there. No doubt they will fledge and be on their way with the others. Good luck!!!

[randyM]

Are both parents of the late nest second-year birds, or is at least one of them an after-second-year bird? If one (or both) parents are ASY birds, the chances of them staying with the chicks until they fledge is higher than if both are SY birds. I had an ASYF and SYM pair hatch a very late nest last year (end of July). By the time the chicks were 10 days old, the SYM would only show up in the mornings for a few hours and disappeared a few days later (likely to join a roost or migrate). The ASYF stayed and raised 3 of the 4 chicks to fledging a few days prior to Sept. 1. Two other late nests (SY pairs) fledged all their young around mid-Aug. There were about a half dozen adult martins and a handful of hatch-year birds that remained at the colony until the lone female fledged her young. A few days later all martins were gone from my colony. I recall another year with a late nest where both parents were SY birds, and again, the male left early. The female stayed for a few days longer, but eventually did not return and the young did not make it. Hopefully the parents of your late nest are dedicated and stay until all young fledge.

Best of luck!

Randy

[brent]

Good information Randy and exactly what I’ve experienced. In fact the pair I have now is SYM and ASYF. The chicks are 21 days old. The female has taken over and I seldom see the male now. I will see him early in the morning but for the most part the female is feeding the chicks. Keeping my fingers crossed. Just a few days left until they’re fledge ready.

[brent]

Good information Randy and exactly what I’ve experienced. In fact the pair I have now is SYM and ASYF. The chicks are 21 days old. The female has taken over and I seldom see the male now. I will see him early in the morning but for the most part the female is feeding the chicks. Keeping my fingers crossed. Just a few days left until they’re fledge ready.

[Martintown33]

From my experience the late nesting parents will usually stay til fledgling. I had an SY pair stay , til their young fledged, this week. Agree , the colony seems to know and comes back every morning to help out , during fledging. I think you’ll be ok!
Rob

[brent]

Getting worried. Checked the chicks yesterday and they were fine. They are 22 days today. We had a lot of rain this morning due to the low along the gulf. I haven’t seen the martins feed them at all this morning. Keeping watch but don’t like what I’m seeing.

[Martintown33]

Hi Brent. Agree, our martins have a way of making us worry. Sometimes the parents will disappear for a while for whatever reason. Heat, rain … but they always seem to eventually show up, when you think the worst.. It’s hard not to worry but I wouldnt be surprised if they just pop up again, like nothing happened . 22 days in, would be unusual for them to abandon now.. Sometimes I think , we worry for no reason, as the martins know more about why they do things, than we do.
Keep us posted. Hope it goes well.
Rob

[brent]

You are spot on Rob. She just showed up with a “Big Mac” aka big mosquito hawk!!!! So relieved!

[Martintown33]

Great! I think the parents may leave the direct vicinity , when it’s raining, in an attempt to feed themselves , in a spot where it’s not raining. Especially when the chicks are as old as yours are (22)… the parents know a few hours of no feeding isn’t going to hurt them at that age.
.. But they always , return, unless there’s some other , particularly rare reason.. I’m sure you’re relieved! I know the feeling!
Good luck
Rob

[C.C.Martins]

Brent, Jones4381,

Same here, 3 nests to go. 2 are ASY pairs and both feed them all day. The 3rd is a subbie pair at our public site, admittedly we are busy but don't see much food going in and little activity. Thought the worst, pulled the house down and got ready...4 fat chicks. Put the house back up and here comes mom and dad with food!

Here at home the males sleep in another gourd, female stays with them. At the public site, lots of fledges return for the night, suspect adults are staying with them but I don't know.

Always worrying, the urge to migrate is strong.

[Jones4381]

Thanks everyone for the information and personal experiences. I have about 50-60 residents and visitor and new fledges that coming back to gourds still every morning doing the fluttering thing....Got 39 to go and counting as 12 or so are at age 30ish...I'll report to the forum on what i observe....Caught a huge black rat snake this morning on Rack 2 on the pole, did another count since I just did checks yesterday and all were accounted for...never a dull day it seems... Hope they all fledge pretty soon as a little stressful picking up jumpers and lowering raising rack for like 7 days strait it seems.

[C.C.Martins]

Good catch on that snake! Man that many jumpers? Good gosh, never a dull moment around a martin colony! Glad your catching them as fast as they go.

Here we are, home stretch; fledges crowding the front, adults doing their utmost to get them ready. Sometimes its with relief they go!

Wish you a quiet, uneventful few more weeks!!

[Jones4381]

Good catch on that snake! Man that many jumpers? Good gosh, never a dull moment around a martin colony! Glad your catching them as fast as they go.

Here we are, home stretch; fledges crowding the front, adults doing their utmost to get them ready. Sometimes its with relief they go!

Wish you a quiet, uneventful few more weeks!!

Thanks Tom, I could use it but mostly self inflicted this year....been very wet and humid the last 10 days or so and had several mite blooms where I didn't get to nest in time. Changed out the remaining nest 2 days ago and hopefully that's the last of them on the ground...Should be wrapping up here for 95% of em in the next 8-9 days then a few stragglers into early Aug. Glad you had a great season again...

[Jones4381]

down to last pair of SY's with 3 young at 20 days old. Year winding down and tbh will be glad it's over so I can focus on fall tree and shrub plantings for pollinators in the future. Hawk and Snakes were issues this year but still managed to get out 150+ fledges...hope to get the averages up next year to over 200 fledges and less losses. Wishing all the best till next season. - Rod

[C.C.Martins]

Sorry so late on my reply...I too needed that breath of relief when they left. Long, long, season. August fledges, just like yours.

You did great for them this season! 200 is a great aspiration, yet mother nature has her surprises in store, I trust they all work in your favor.

Hope the planting goes well! Like to hear how it all goes.
Tom

[Jones4381]

All birds fledged and departed...Aug 10th. See everyone next year.