Journal of Purple Martin Activity
Ken Kostka
Purple Martin Preservation Alliance
  http://www.purple-martin.org
Pittsburgh, PA
2008

Welcome to the online version of the Purple Martin Preservation Alliance journal! I thought it would be interesting to publish the 2008 journal online, as a sort of blog, so that we could share some of our observations (hopefully interesting) and follow our activities throughout the season.  Most of the entries will focus on the Lock 4 colony along the Allegheny River in Natrona, PA as well as the Saxon Golf Course colony in Sarver, PA, since I visit them frequently.  However, some entries will be reports from Duke Snyder, Jeff Hunt, Bob Allnock, or other staff members or dedicated enthusiasts who manage colonies at or near their homes in western Pennsylvania. There is a glossary of terms at the end of the journal.

 A brief history of the main colonies written about in this journal:

USACE LOCK 4 COLONY, NATRONA, PA: We tried since 1999 to attract martins to this seemingly ideal riverside site, but it was not until 2005 that this colony was established with 1 breeding pair as a result of our Forced Dispersal Project.  There were 3 breeding pair in 2006, and 7 breeding pairs in 2007. At the end of the 2007 season, we were required to relocate one of the houses to a less open area about 250 feet upriver, next to the house that had two breeding pairs. This relocated house had 5 of the 7 breeding pairs, but it was necessary to move it for sanitary reasons - it was only 20 feet away from an outside bench where corps staff occasionally ate lunch. As the colony grew, the move would become inevitable for obvious reasons. I wanted to see what impact (if any) the move would have the site fidelity of the breeding adults, so I attempted to band all of the adults during the 2007 breeding season when they were feeding their nestlings. I was able to capture and band 7 of the 10 adults that bred in that house, and am anxious to see how many return in 2008 and make the switch to the new location 250 feet away. I will refer to these birds that breed in the new location as "movers". The housing consists of two T-14's.

 SAXON GOLF COURSE COLONY, SARVER, PA:   This colony consisting of two T-14’s (28 compartments) had 100% occupancy (28 breeding pairs) in the past two years – 2006 and 2007. It is located at the tee-off area of a golf course located 1 mile south of Saxonburg, PA. Established in the 1960’s, this once-robust colony had dwindled to 6-8 breeding pair by 2001, and was in danger of being lost altogether. It was an old wooden house that could not be opened or lowered, and the caretaker, Lou Getty, who usually trapped House Sparrows, had recently passed away. I took over management of this colony in 2002 and erected a T-14. It was immediately occupied, and attracted 13 breeding pairs. None nested in the old house. Another T-14 was erected the following year.

          BOB ALLNOCK COLONY, PORTERSVILLE, PA: This colony had two nesting pair in 2007. One was a an adult pair that was transplanted from the Moraine State Park colony three miles away as part of a Purple Martin Transplant Project, and the other was a subadult pair naturally attracted. We are anxious to see if the transplanted adults will return to Bob's site this season, after having successfully fledged their young at Bob's site in 2007. It will also be interesting to see if any of the five successfully fledged nestlings return to the Allnock site this year. 

4/10/08  Warm

USACE LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 11:30 A.M.   I was lowering the housing, thinking no martins were present, when an ASY-M suddenly appeared, loudly vocalizing. I believe that martins often appear to be absent but are actually foraging/flying very high over the site, and descend to defend their housing when they see it being tampered with.  It is late in the morning, and he is already jumpy, so he will not sit still to let me read the yellow coded legband with my high-powered spotting scope.  I manage to get a partial reading: The code is K3--. I strongly suspect he is K384, the first male to “return” in 2006, although he was only a visitor in 2005. (The original male who established the colony in 2005 never returned.)

4/12/08   Cool

USACE LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 5:30 P.M. There are two ASY-M’s present.

Yellow K384 ASY-M
Unbanded ASY-M

I fed egg (by flicking chunks on a spoon) to both birds, and K384 ate first and ate more. The second bird seemed to learn from watching K384 – not sure if he was trained to eat before or not.   

SAXON GOLF COURSE, SARVER, PA 7:00 P.M  There are 10 PM's  present. Only 1 is a female (ASY). This appears to be a trend among all the local colonies – an overwhelming number of ASY-M’s and only a token number of females.  It is believed that the males It is believed that the males return early (risking starvation) in order to claim the best cavities.

4/13/08

USACE LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 2 males and 1 female present. It is still cool. Only the males ate tossed egg.

Yellow K384 ASY-M
Unbanded ASY-M
Unbanded ASY-F

SAXON GOLF COURSE, SARVER, PA.  13 PM's present; only 1 female! They ate some tossed egg and I put some in the feeding trays. I played the feeding music while feeding them. This “feeding music” is a type of music I am trying to get them to associate with the supplemental feeding. If all the martins in the area come to associate this music with supplemental feeding, the music could be used to lure them to non-colony feeding stations or to new sites. I also play this at the Lock 4 colony when I am feeding.

4/14/08 Cool. High today was 50 degrees.

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  6:00 PM Only 1 ASY-M is present – yellow K384. The other two unbanded PM's may have been transients.

SAXON GOLF COURSE, SARVER, PA.  Still 13 PM's present. 8 were inside when I lowered the housing. Some ate tossed egg, but not much. I put eggs in the trays.

4/17/08

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 10:00 AM  Only 1 PM's at site – Yellow K384

4/18/08

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 11:30 AM 

Yellow K384 ASY-M is perched on “his” lightpost. He was not present when I arrived at 10:00 AM.

 Tree Swallow check at Lock 4 (There are 14 plastic gourds hung on the rope fence at waist level all along the lock wall, about 35-40 feet apart.
 

I straightened both martin house poles. They had become slightly crooked over the winter.

4/19/08

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 11:00 AM 

Saw a Tree Swallow sitting on the martin house. They have been flitting around the houses often lately, but no nestbuilding. There was also a starling perched on the house, but I’m pretty sure it is the one nesting in the roof of the nearby maintenance shed. The two T-14’s have all Snyder Excluder II entrance holes. Wayne said he saw 4 PM's all over the housing – at least 2 were ASY-M

4/20/08

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  11:00 AM. I saw 3 PM's flying over the site. Later, I saw 2 ASY-M on the lamppost.

4/21/08

SAXON GOLF COURSE, SARVER, PA  Nest check.
 

I put eggshella in the trays and duct-taped the corners (to keep any martins from getting a leg stuck in a crack, as once happened at a local site)

4/22/08

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA. Bob called to say that the transplanted male from 2007 was back at his site!!!!!!!!!!! His band is Yellow K676. 

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  9:00 AM. 2 asy-m present.  Lots of House Sparrow activity, so I set bait traps but didn’t catch anything.  At 3:30, there were 3 asy-m’s present. The third asy-m was swooping around the south yard, where the martin house used to be last season.  The 2 already present asy-m’s were “hoopin’ and hollerin’” in a seeming attempt to get him to come over to the new location. It was almost like he was a female. Why would they try to recruit another asy-m, which would seemingly be competition for them? Perhaps it is a “safety in numbers” sort of thing – another set of eyes to watch for predators. In any case, he was probably a male that bred at the site last year, and was looking for the house in the old location. All 3 asy-m’s were sitting on the lamppost when I left.

4/23/08

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  4:00 PM. Nest check. No House Sparrow nests, despite a lot of HS activity. The asy-m’s must be doing a good job of driving them off. I did see one asy-m persistently chase a HS off the house one day, but the HS kept coming back

MORAINE STATE PARK, PORTERSVILLE, PA. Bob Allnock says there were about 9 pms on the housing in the late AM. – mostly asy-m’s

4/24/08

LEO ZEGLIN, MT. PLEASANT, PA  Jeff Hunt says there are about 25 pm’s back already! He thinks it will be a banner year.

4/26/08

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  5:30 PM. There are 12 pm’s flying around together above the housing! Awesome.

4/27/08

LOCK 4, NATRONA.  9:00 AM. There are at least 8-9 martins present. There are 3 females (probably ASY) and 6 asy-m’s.

Yellow K384 right ASY-M WH-5 sit (he is a mover)
Yellow K6__ right ASY-F  WH-5 sit
Yellow E027 left ASY-M
Unbanded F
Unbanded F

4/28/08   Cool. High 50 F

SAXON GOLF COURSE, SARVER, PA 7:00 PM. 35-40 Martins! Many were inside and flushed when I did a nest check. Many ate tossed egg, and I put 6 eggs in the trays before I left.  I did see martins on the trays.

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  7:30 PM  10-12 pm’s present (There was only 1 at 6:00 PM). I played the feeding music and many took the tossed egg. (It is actually flicked high with a plastic spoon). I put the few scraps that were left on a tray. One of the staffers said that the water temperature is 58 F, even though the air temp is only 50 F.  This is because of the many very warm days we’ve had recently.  The river (actually a lot like a lake because of the pooling) is like a big heat sink, allowing for insect hatches during periods of cool air temperature, I would think.

4/30/08   Cool.  High 48 F. Some sun. Chilly

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 9:30 AM 11 PM's - 7 ASY-M and 4 females. They ate tossed egg. I wore orange and played the music.

SAXON GOLF COURSE, SARVER, PA. 11:00 AM. I tossed egg. Many ate. I put 8 eggs on the trays. Removed HS nests from WH-14 and WH-28

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 4:15 PM. 9-10 PM's present. They ate tossed egg. I played the music. At least some PM's associate the music with the supplemental feeding, because a few swooped out even before they saw me, but I had started playing the music when I was out of sight.

5/01/08  

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA. 10:30 AM  cool, 40's, cloudy. 12 PM's present. 2 sitting on feeder when I arrived. I toss-fed egg while wearing the color and playing the music. All ate. Then I filled two trays with egg.

CROOKED CREEK STATE PARK, FORD CITY, PA. 1:00 PM - 6:00 PM.  I put up both T-14's and hung six gourds on each gourd rack. I heard a pair of ravens croaking a lot. I also put Tree Swallow gourds on the wrought-iron hangers.

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA. Bob called to say that there was very little activity at his site - the transplanted ASY-M has not been seen since April 22nd. But he has not been spotted at the Moraine State Park colony either. In an attempt to generate some activity at his site, I suggest closing some compartments at the Moraine State Park colony, which he says he says he will do the next day.

5/02/08 .

SAXON GOLF COURSE, SARVER,PA. nest check.

I put eggshell in the trays. All of the scrambled egg from yesterday was gone.

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA. Bob closes 40% of the compartments at the Moraine State Park colony in an attempt to get some of the martins to switch to his site, which is only 3 miles away.

5/03/08 rainy, warm.

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  I caught two male House Sparrows in bluebird houses (using insert traps) at Harrison Hills County Park and used them as "live decoys" in bait traps that I set up at Lock 4, eventually catching eight more HS at Lock 4. One of the HS decoys had killed a male Eastern Bluebird inside a bluebird box at Harrison Hills County Park. The HS's at lock 4 have been building nests in the martin houses, despite repeated nest tearouts. I had been unsuccessful at catching any HS (using white bread) without the live decoys. All live HS decoys are housed in a humane manner, with food and water.

Did nest check at Lock 4 - no martin nests yet. I did remove two partial HS nests.


5/04/08 about 50 F.

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  10:00 AM. I toss-fed scrambled egg and many ate. They didn't take any off of the tray, as it warmed up nicely, and rather quickly in the late AM.

I caught 3-5 more HS's

I saw 10-12 Barn Swallows - all sitting next to each other on the rope fence of the lock wall. It was a chilly, sunny morning.

I did a Tree Swallow nest check on the 14 plastic gourds that are hanging on the wire cable fence of the lock wall:
 

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA  Bob had several martins hanging around his site today - a spike in activity that he attributes to having closed the compartments at The Moraine colony.

5/05/08  

LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  10:00 AM. I saw the following banded bird(s):

yellow K632 ASY-F

K632 bred at the site last year as an SY-F with a banded ASY-M (yellow A597), but seems, this year, to be paired with an unbanded ASY-M, who she was sitting on the lampost with. She is a mover!

I also saw a very dark, unbanded ASY-F that was being courted by several ASY-M's.

I also saw an ASY-M with a blue anodized band on his left leg. It could be yellow E027, who bred at the site last year.

I saw a female and several ASY-M's in the treetop picking at buds.

I caught 3-4 more HS.

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA 6:23 AM. Bob reported two ASY-M's and one ASY-F at his site this morning. One of the males is Yellow K672 ASY-M, who was seen at Moraine State Park several days ago.

HARRISON HILLS COUNTY PARK, NATRONA HEIGHTS, PA. The T-14 house/pole that I put up at the new location in the park about a week ago has sunk into the mud so that the winch is hitting the ground and I cannot crank the house down. I am forced to remove everything and place it in a dryer area about 20 ft. away. I think the pole simply kept slipping down over the ground stake, since there is nothing to stop it. To keep that from happening again, I drill several holes at the base of the pole into the ground stake, then put two sheet metal screws in. These screws bind the pole to the ground stake, and should stop the pole from continuously slipping further over the ground stake and into the ground. I also start the dawnsong, which is playing from a speaker attached to the ELC (Environmental Learning Center).

5/06/08 warm, sunny.

USACE LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  9:30 AM.  There was a lot of excitement. Many males apparently courting newly-arrived females. I counted 12 martins.

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA.  6:23 AM. Bob reported two ASY-M's and one ASY-F at his site this morning. One of the males is Yellow K672 ASY-M, who was seen at Moraine State Park several days ago. Later, Bob called to say that the transplanted male, Yellow K676 ASY-M, not seen since April 22, was back at his site. Also seen was Yellow K677 ASY-F, an unsuccessfully transplanted female in 2007, as well as yellow K672 ASY-M. K676 and K677 appear to be pair bonding. Bob says that he thinks closing the housing at Moraine has caused these martins to come to his site. I am intrigued by the possibility that K677's exposure to the Allnock site during the failed transplant attempt in 2007 may have had something to do with her appearance at the Allnock site after being excluded from the Moraine colony in 2008. Perhaps martins that are exposed to a site during capture and release have a greater chance of settling at that site if excluded from their chosen site. 

5/07/08 warm, sunny.

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA. Bob reports that 7 PM's stayed overnight at his site! K676 and K677 slept in a gourd together. An unbanded pair stayed in a gourd; K672 and 2 others stayed in various gourds and the T-14.

5/08/08 warm, misty rain, overcast high in the 60's

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA. 8:00 AM Report from Bob: The 3 banded birds are still here. Now I have 4 females and 5 males.

5/09/08 warm, rain, overcast, high in the 60's

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA. Report from Bob: There are 5 males (including K676 and K672) and 3 females (including K677); Bob tossed some scrambled egg and they ate a little.

5/10/08  rainy, overcast, chilly in AM 50 F

USACE LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  10:30 AM.  Counted 17 martins. I tossed scrambled egg and all the martins seemed to eat. It was rainy and cool yesterday and chilly this morning, so they were hungry. The sun came out as I was leaving and it is warming up nicely.

TREE SWALLOW NEST CHECK:

END


BANDED BREEDING ADULTS AT NATRONA, PA COLONY IN 2007:

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS:

PURPLE MARTIN NEST CHECK:

 TREE SWALLOW NEST CHECK:

TEMPLATES:

0/00/00 oooo.

USACE LOCK 4, NATRONA, PA.  ooo

SAXON GOLF COURSE, SARVER, PA. ooo

HARRISON HILLS COUNTY PARK, NATRONA HEIGHTS, PA. ooo

BOB ALLNOCK, PORTERSVILLE, PA. ooo

TO DO:

ADD LINKS TO RELEVANT ARTICLES

ADD PHOTOS/LINKS TO PHOTOS