Good report w/ happy ending From Grand Prairie,Tx

[klcretired]

Hello everyone,
after taking one baby to the rehabbers and 2 more hitting the ground the next day I decided to see if i could help them on my own so i fed them Cricket's, Mealworms,& SuperWorm's and after several days and long long long Hour's of feeding they have Finally Fledged and are with mom & Pop PM's flying around Forageing but still hanging around my houseing and landing very poorly bumping into things in and around the gourd rack & PM Houseing.It's a story with a happy ending this time and something that i never want to have to do again is feed those Young it's a very,very hard task to do but well worth it !!!!!!!!, even if i saved just one Martin it's still worth it to me.I just wanted to up-date everyone and let you know that they made it. Here are a couple of pic's of the Fledglings.

[John Barrow]

Hi K.C. Congratulations on your success. I know that when I emailed you last week with information of feeding the birds in rehab you were probably shocked--the equvialent of 8-10 mealworms per bird every half hour for 10-12 hours per day. It's one of the biggest challenges I know of to bring life opportunity back to a young martin, and most rehabbers will say a 50% success rate is typical. YOU HAVE DONE YOURSELF PROUD!!!

PMCA offers a manual, I think, written by an expert, Carlilse Rogilio, on how to succefully rehab an injured or pre-fleghling martin. It is a useful phamplet to own and costs only a couple of dollars. But it doesn't provide the time, food source or patience to keep martins alive for an extended period of time. Only we can do that.

Supplemental feeding is a great tool to establish, particularly training martins to eat scrambled egg, for only a couple of pieces of the egg offer the same protein requirement of the 8-10 mealworms.

And the praise I extend to you on successfully rehabbing those two jewels underscores the importance of what PMCA is doing in trying to locate and protect migratory roosts. That is the big picture. We can possibly save a few young nestlings with our effort, we can argue forever about the merits of housing or sevin for insect control, but if a roost of many thousands of martins is lost, we have suffered a true and lasting setback. In my opinion, roost protection and preventing starvation in adverse weather will ultimately determine whether the PM survives as a species. i applaud efforts by PMCA in leading us in that direction.

Thanks again for what you have done. Good job my friend. jb

[klcretired]

John,
Yes I feel the same way as you do about saving a single PM and thanks for the reply and helping me thru the process.In the past i have relied on Dale Hrncirik over there in Wylie,Tx for help, he's in allen,Tx now and has helped me tremendously , you can ask dale about my perserverance and dedication in my campaign to help the most Beautiful bird in the world go forth and multiply. out of all the year's that i have been a landlord i t seems that i run into a new problem each year that's different from the last so thats why it is so very important that we all converse w/ each other and share information document everything for future reference and have the necessary info right in front of us for any given situation that may arise in order to help these Magnificant Beautiful Bird's.Just watching the fledgelings return after flying all day and try their landing abilities & manuver's and listening to the Churdles back & forth from the Proud Parent's to their young was Reward enough for me to know that they had indeed beat the odd's and are going to make it just fine on their own now.
Thanks to everyone for your help and Support, This is what it is all about.
and as alway's.............

[abernathys]

Hey K.C.---AWESOME job!!!! They are just adorable, you look like a very proud pappa!! Well deserved. My last eight babies are getting bigger and cutier by the day. 2 more weeks before the last are ready to fledge. It will be lonely after that. Continued good luck!!

Sandy

[elyas]

Always nice to hear one with a happy ending. Congrats klc.

[Sparky]

Congrats kl,
Your efforts are appreciated by the martin kingdom. These are some awesome pictures. I'll bet these wil be the first two back! When one really gets into landlording this is a natural and nescessary activity. I used my new "misting system" this season daily because of June's high heat index and I believe it was a tremendous help and had no "jump outs" this year. And thanks to the many who recommended Sevin so that my martins would be mite free this year.

[Guest]

I don't want to be too gushy but Awwwwww! The photos are great....a wonderful burly dude with a true heart of gold!!! You look soooo sweet with those precious babies and your success is due to your love and devotion! We need more fine fellows like you in this world! I hope they didn't break the mold for you...it would be a shame!

Warm Regards,
Sue
City by the Sea, TX

[Al Denton]

Looking at these photos tell me these little martins got the right daddy for the job. My hat is off to you kl, and I bet they were long and hard hours! Al

[prager]

Just holding a Purple Martin is a real joy but to be able to feed them and get the back on their wings has got to be one of the best feelings in the world!

Great Job!
Pete

[klcretired]

Thanks to everyone for all your Kind word's and support and it's true, i do care about the PM's and their future, I will do most anything that i have to for the betterment of the Species. My final report for 2005 is , out of 66 Hatched , 1 died, 1 i took to a Rehabber, 2 I raised my self till they fully fledged and left w/ their parents . I can hear them off in the Distance but they are not comming by my houseing anymore like they used to and do fly by's , so they are gathering up to head off to the big Roost to Head back to south america for yet another year. I already miss them and they are not even fully gone yet!!!!! , But i will be Ready for Next year when they come again.