going south for the winter
When will all the MN purple martins have flown past South Missouri? I'm ready to take my gourds down, but I want all those martins to see them first. barbiejoe
After 3 years, I gave up and put two gourds out, hoping to get other birds to nest. I did. Had one pair of tree swallows and ONE pair of purple martins. The PM had 4 hatchlings. One died in the nest and one was found on the ground two days running and died that night. Two flew successfully.
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randyM
- Posts: 106
- Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:30 pm
- Location: Long Lake SD
- Martin Colony History: 2006 - SY pair, unsuccessful nest attempt, 3 houses = 52 cavities
2010 - ASYM + SYF pair - male disappeared after storm, female fledged all 4 young.
2015 - Lone SYM stayed month of June...added 8 gourds = 60 cavities
2016 - 1 nesting pair (ASYM + SYF) 2/3 eggs hatched 2 young fledged.
2017 - 4 nesting pairs, 16/17 eggs hatched, 16 fledged, 16 banded - 2 banded SY returned in 2018 (12.5%), added housing: 11 houses w/gourds, 4 gourd poles = 376 cavities
2018 - 10 nesting pairs, 46/52 eggs hatched, 45 fledged, 29 banded - 3 banded SY returned in 2019 (10.3%)
2019 - 32 nesting pairs, 145/160 eggs hatched, 139 fledged - 87 banded - 12 banded SY returned in 2020 (13.8%).
2020 - 35 nesting pairs, 180/199 eggs hatched, 178 fledged - 150 banded.
I've had migrating birds visit my colony in South Dakota each year until about Sept. 15. I still have a family of 6 hanging around my site that fledged on Aug. 15. I play the daytime chatter CD each day during migration and have about 3-8 visitors each day (including some ASY birds). I'd suggest to keep your housing up through at least Labor Day weekend, if not a few weeks after that if you want any of the last migrating birds to see your site. If you have the chatter CD, I'd recommend playing that as well to increase chances of having some migrating birds stop in for a visit. Good luck!
Thank you Randy M. I will leave the gourds up and go look for my CD of chatter. barbiejoe
After 3 years, I gave up and put two gourds out, hoping to get other birds to nest. I did. Had one pair of tree swallows and ONE pair of purple martins. The PM had 4 hatchlings. One died in the nest and one was found on the ground two days running and died that night. Two flew successfully.