Fledging Fights

oneidalaker · Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:41 pm

I've been watching my newly fledged martins in the evening and have observed numerous fights (back biting and grappling) amoungst what appears to be newly fledged birds. Is this normal? I've read that SY birds will harass the newly fledged bird but these fights seem to occur at the entrances of the natal nesting compartments (they appear to be vying for position) and to the best of my ability to observe, involve only the fledglings.

cransy · Thu Jul 21, 2005 4:48 pm

Yes, this is normal behavior for all fledgings. By the way, how many pairs do you have? I'm located in Watkins Glen and currently have 17 pairs with about 62 babies so far. it's great to see other martin landlords in upstate. Not many colonies around here that are kept up.

John Miller · Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:07 pm

Hello

I've been a little puzzled by this too. At first I thought the fighting on the porches was all from sub adults, but I've been seeing small family groups flying in to roost (a wonderful site) late in the evening, and there's often squabbling in midair, with screeching and diving one another. I guess a sub male could have been hanging out with the family all day, but like you, it appeared to me to be siblings fighting. On the other hand, I've seen returning fledglings sitting quietly, bunched up together on the porch.

John Miller,
St. Louis, Mo

oneidalaker · Fri Jul 22, 2005 7:33 am

My colony's up to 13 nesting pairs with some 60 nestlings, rebuilding from a bad return migration a few years ago. It's been an active site on Oneida Lake for over 25 years. When I first moved to Oneida Lake I inherited an eight compartment wooden house that consistently attracted six pairs of martins. At one time between past neighbors and my self we built the colony up to some 96 compartments with 40-50 pairs. Unfortunatley my neighbors moved away or passed away and the new neighbors are not interested. This past year I partially switched to SREHs suspect that I lost a few pairs to other colonies on the lake. In the past I had best luck with wooden houses and natural gourds (all of which are long gone. I currently have a Wade Trio Castle and a Nature House Musselman (both of which I converted to 6" X 12" compartments this spring. This past spring I added 8 super gourds with cresent holes this year based on my past success with natural gourds. However, the only interest was from my 14th pair, a SY couple which built a nest but failed to lay any eggs. I'm going to see if I can increase gourd occupancy by prebuilding some nests in them next spring. I also plan on putting up a 8 comparment PVC Castle and hanging 3 super gourds with round holes under it.

What kind of housing are you using. Are you on the lake or do you live in/near the village

I'll be presenting a Purple Martin Seminar in February 18, 2006 at 10AM at Barones Gardens in Cicero. I realize that its a bit of a trip (as I occassionaly make down your way when visiting the wineries) but I'd enjoy meeting you.

cransy · Fri Jul 22, 2005 9:32 am

Great, I'm on Seneca Lake on the westside about a mile out of town. I currently have 24 gourds. Last year I had an owl attack and lost several birds. Also, I lost 42 birds during the cold spell in 2003. It's been tough getting the colony back. This year I feed several birds in the spring with crickets (4,000) and most of them were just passing through. But didn't lose any birds with about a ten day cold spell. My colony is 9 years old. Have you ever had your babies banded? Mind were banded in 2001 with pink bands. I currently have one banded bird but observed a subadult martin with only a silver band on one leg this year. I installed home made owl guards this year but the problem with fledging is that they sit out all night on the perches and get picked off by owls. Haven't observed any yet this year. This picture was taken at night.

oneidalaker · Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:27 am

Nice colony, happy to see our New York martins are using gourds. I might be out your way on Thursday, next week (my sister in home from Colodaro and we thought we hit the west shore of Cayaga and the East shore of Seneca).
I had my birds banded back in 1990 by Doug Whitman of Marcellus (Baltimore Woods). Haven't seen any banded birds at my colony (I only had four SY birds this year) but I'll let you know if I ever see a yellow one.