"I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free." ~Wendell Berry

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Lending a Helping Hand

It has been getting dark here around 7:40 - 7:50 PM for the last few weeks.  Friday evening it was raining and I decided I better do a quick scan of the colony with the binoculars before it got too dark to see.  Sure enough, a female martin was stuck in the entrance on her back, beak pointing straight up to the skies, just lying there squirming. It had been raining for almost an hour.  I hate lowering the racks late in the evening, as it takes a while for the colony to settle back down and hawks or owls will quickly take advantage of the low light and try to snag dinner.  Fortunately, her wings were still inside, so I anticipated a quick, easy release. 
As I lowered the rack, I saw a female martin land on the ground in front of me.  She was soaking wet and unable to fly.  She tried to get airborne, but could not - it was the stuck martin that had gotten free and flopped out. After chasing her around the yard, I capture her and wrapped her in a towel, then raised the rack and everyone re-entered safely for the night.
She stayed in the garage overnight where it was 60 degrees, in a box with some old hand towels. 


Saturday morning, after a quick health check, I decided she was good to go, so I gave her a parting gift.  She became the new owner of MO Band # E818.  With her new jewelry securely attached, I released her.  She circled 4 times around the colony and landed on her rack, refreshed from her warm overnight stay and ready to do battle for *her* gourd once again.
My newly-banded female - E818, back on *her* gourd ready to fiercely defend her territory.
I was reminded once again that it is always a good idea to do a quick scan of your housing as your martins come in in the evenings.  They are fighting for territory and it's very easy for one of them to get sideways and even upside-down in an entrance-way, with a wing or both stuck and unable to free themselves.  This little girl was lucky that I found her that night.  At the same time, I'm feeling pretty lucky that she's at my site and has chosen me to look out for her.


As the day warmed up, I kept a close eye on that rack and I discovered that she had paired up with the male that was my first arrival this season.  Remember him?  First arrival at my colony in Licking. 

Now what were the odds of that?


Showing off her new jewelry to her new mate.  They now have matching jewelry!
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2 comments:

  1. Aya KatzApril 3, 2014 at 6:30 AM

    I am so interested in the pairings of your purple martins!

    Did the male who was your first arrival have trouble finding a mate, that he waited that long? Is this female you rescued less desirable than the one who pushed her out?



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  2. Nikkis MomApril 3, 2014 at 11:56 AM

    Thank you, Aya! The way they pair up has always been a subject of a lot of interest by me too. It's pretty common across martin colonies for there to be fewer females than there are males. Breeding, egg-laying, etc. is hard on them, so there are just not as many of them that survive. At least in the martin world, the females have final choice over housing and they are hell-bent on finding the most dominant male to spread their genes.
    This male had another female with him for a while that had some different markings. I think since he's a dominate male, my rescued female decided that she wanted him, intruded on the pair's bliss and lost the battle that night.
    But she went back on Saturday and decided to take a different tack and won the war. The females are just as vicious as the males sometimes and I think she went up a rung on the dominant ladder on Sat. It's very interesting watching the finicky females come & go when a male is trying to woo her to a nest. He begs and swoops all around her - she hops from nest to nest checking it out, leaves & returns, and generally acts uninterested. But once she's decided on it & him, she will have to guard her nest from intruders and possibly spar with other females to keep him. I've seen many females battle while the male is just sitting there looking on. And I've seen it the other way around too. A lot of people find it hard to watch all the fighting, but I think dominance & desire to spread their genes is pretty common in the animal kingdom. I'm a firm believer (as you know), of the "only the strong survive" mantra. Can't wait to band their kids and see what happens in coming years.

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