Could someone who has been around for a while give me a suggestion as to why there was a huge drop off in martin scout sightings in 2016? I was playing around with the scouting reports going back through the last few years, and see that the records show around 3700 reports per year till 2016 when there was a drop to around 2700. It has since crept up tp 3000. The subadult reports followed the same pattern. I looked for correlation with hurricanes briefly, but none correlated that I saw.
I'm a 5th year wannabee and have high hopes after moving 2 houses closer to my pond meaning farther from trees and unfortunately also farther from my house. I'll send pictures soon once the houses are ready.
1000 scout dropoff in 2016
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tboydshirt
- Posts: 69
- Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2018 1:42 pm
- Location: sugarcreek,ohio
- Martin Colony History: new in 2017, but ready for lots of birds. 44 gourds and 40 t14 style holes
2019 more visitors than in the past and a long suffering SY male. each year enhancing the site and hoping for the future.
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Louise Chambers
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6208
- Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:07 pm
- Location: Corpus Christi, TX
I think it was due to changes in how scouts are reported online to the PMCA. Before 2016, anyone could report online directly. In 2016 (I think I am remembering this correctly), people had to use a PMCA account log-in, not their forum log-in, to report. That slowed things down a good bit, but it's improved greatly since then.
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tboydshirt
- Posts: 69
- Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2018 1:42 pm
- Location: sugarcreek,ohio
- Martin Colony History: new in 2017, but ready for lots of birds. 44 gourds and 40 t14 style holes
2019 more visitors than in the past and a long suffering SY male. each year enhancing the site and hoping for the future.
Thanks
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Brad Biddle
- Posts: 523
- Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:22 pm
- Location: Marshall County AL
Yes ma'am that's exactly it. I still can't log in to the PMCA scout report online. I have had to call in my report since then. I can't remember my password and my computer doesn't remember my password. I tried, unsuccessfully, to reset it 3 times this year, gave up and called them. The reset process generates an email with a new password, but the system won't take the password that's generated.Louise Chambers wrote: ↑Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:15 amI think it was due to changes in how scouts are reported online to the PMCA. Before 2016, anyone could report online directly. In 2016 (I think I am remembering this correctly), people had to use a PMCA account log-in, not their forum log-in, to report. That slowed things down a good bit, but it's improved greatly since then.
Martin landlord since 2003. Currently offering 132 plastic gourds with tunnels and all SREH.
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mwren
- Posts: 108
- Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 2:43 pm
- Location: OH/Athens
- Martin Colony History: I have had my martin colony on the dam of one of my ponds for nine years. The colony has grown each year, but I am now concentrating on helping friends and acquaintances who have shown interests in martins. My colony consists of three T-14's with 8 Troyer gourds attatched to each T-14, a Troyer gourd rack with 12 gourds, and another gourd rack with 18 Troyer gourds for a total of 96 nest cavities. I am having serious predation issues with hawks and owls and am experimenting with various hawk guards and "screens". Established successful supplemental feeding last season during late march and had a blast flipping mostly meal worms and some crickets. Faculty from Ohio University are using my colony as a research site to study parasites that target cavity nesting birds. In exchange for access to my bird trail nest boxes and martin housing, they are banding all birds involved in their study.
tboydshirt,
Moving your colony closer to your pond and into a more open area should pay off for you this year. My home colony is a bit farther from my house than we would like to have it, but having more open air space and the colony on the dam of a pond is a good trade off.
Good luck this year!
Moving your colony closer to your pond and into a more open area should pay off for you this year. My home colony is a bit farther from my house than we would like to have it, but having more open air space and the colony on the dam of a pond is a good trade off.
Good luck this year!
Mike "Bird" Wren