Martins pouring into St. Louis

[John Miller]

Drove through our park sites in Forest Park, St. Louis, this morning and counted about 24 happy martins -- give or take one or two -- total across three housing locations. This is up from 7 to 9 cold ones that I fed all last week.

April can be a cruel month, with warm then cold...but let's hope any cool spells are short lived -- a very nice Sunday morning.

John Miller

[CraigMo.]

Same here John. I actually think my 12 gourds are full and now multiple pms at my trio. Many more will probably show up today
Craig

[KathyF]

Glad you mentioned that April is another risky month. I'll be ordering more crickets just in case! Wow, I need to readjust my retirement planning and add in "Cricket funds" for each year.

I think a lot more showed up here yesterday and it was very noisy and a lot of fighting -- all day! But we were burning off a few acres so I didn't get a good count -- the noise said it all though!

[jspurgin]

Just this weekend I have gone from four Martins (who survived the cold spell) to ten Martins. They are making a joyful noise today.

[TheCav-MO]

I had two show up at 7:30 this morning. One is rearranging the nest material I put in. It's the same gourd that I had my only pair in last year. My neighbors have had a full 12 hole box since I moved here 6 years ago. But they went south for the winter and haven't made it back. So their box isn't up. Wondering how many more will show up, they were checking out my gourds heavy last year.

[Craig Haddox]

I didn't have any martins until yesterday then I ended up putting 8-10 martins to bed last night. More are arriving today.

[Jeff Robinson]

I was at 10 martins last night, and I think maybe a small number more have arrived today; however, it's so windy that they're spending a greater deal of time eating and not nearly as much time wasting energy trying to land as they did yesterday.

Jeff

[rdhd]

I

[Jeff Robinson]

Sounds like you're making up for lost time Randy - way to go!

Jeff

[TheCav-MO]

Well I ended up with three males and one female by days end. It appears one of the males has a metal band. Can't remember which leg it was on now. I'll have to get the spotting scope out to make sure I'm not seeing things. Windy as all get out here like the rest of Missouri today. Supposed to be 25 degrees tomorrow night after 80's today. Wild weather this spring, winter, summer, winter... whatever season this is.

[KathyF]

I was able to get a rough count this evening and I'm up over 40 now. There are at least 20 pairs and a few unmated males right now.

John, your description of "pouring" was correct! They've just been pouring out of the sky since yesterday morning!''

Just read my notes from last year:

Apr. 2 - 12 martins here - very windy - high 70's. All ASYs

Apr. 3 - Rained 1.5" last night. Big increase in martins, maybe 20-22 here now.

So, it looks like the increases I'm seeing here match what I saw last year.

[KathyF]

Well I ended up with three males and one female by days end. It appears one of the males has a metal band. Can't remember which leg it was on now. I'll have to get the spotting scope out to make sure I'm not seeing things. Windy as all get out here like the rest of Missouri today. Supposed to be 25 degrees tomorrow night after 80's today. Wild weather this spring, winter, summer, winter... whatever season this is.

TheCav - I just read your profile and realized that you had one pair last year. Starting out this year already with 3 males and 1 female is excellent and sounds like you'll probably see some significant increases this year!

I wish this weather would make up its mind!!

[Glen Webb Jr]

Yeah, John was right. Pouring in couldn't have said it better. Mine started pouring in today. I went from the one lonely hungry guy who braved all that cold to four yesterday evening. Have over 12 today. I was literally watching them come in. Those birds couldn't have been happier or louder. Oh they've been gone too long.

[KathyF]

I had a female stuck in a gourd with one wing outside the conley II entrance this morning. Lowered the gourd rack and there was another female & male in the gourd, defending it from the intruder. I set them all free and looked up.

WOW - I counted 60 martins perched on my house, the racks and the perching post and more were in the air.

Lots of martins here today - the 45 mph winds must have SHOVED them northward yesterday...

Is it just me, or does it seem like there are a lot of folks that are reporting really high numbers at their sites this year? Must have been a bumper crop of martins last year!!

[Dawn~KS]

I went from 12-14 last Friday to over 30 yesterday. I couldn't count last night with the hail and storms. Pretty amazing the *volume* of these birds............LOVE IT!!