Talk while approaching and lowering racks for nest checks.

[Dave Duit]

A good landlord practice that can be introduced to your weekly nest check routine is to talk while approaching and lowering your martin housing.
Why ? Because it allows any parents sitting on eggs, not to be startled. Startling a parent sitting on eggs could cause them to abruptly disturb the nest and crack the eggs. Less stress for the colony makes everyone happy. Quickly and carefully for nest checks and changes if necessary.

[phldave]

Dave,
Hopefully in 2019 I'll get to put this into practice, but maybe I will just play a radio, so the neighbors won't think I have totally gone off the deep end.

Happy Holiday's

Dave

[Dave Duit]

Hi Dave,
Sounds like a good plan. I wish you the best in 2019.

[Dave Reynolds]

Dave ... That does sound like a great idea.. I can do it at my home site.. But if I started talking to the Martins out at my Satilite Site, all the golfers will think I’m nuts.. Most of the time I wait until the golfers close to me have moved on before I approach the houses and lower them..

Dave

[Dave Duit]

That is a good idea. I too have a public educational martin colony and usually wait until few people are near to do my nest checks. Although it is an educational site with education signage I have found that it will quickly gather a crowd and I feel it is best to do quick nest checks instead of giving a long presentation while doing checks.