"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


Showing posts with label purple martin fledging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purple martin fledging. Show all posts

Friday, July 24, 2020

Purple Martins: Winnowing-Natural and Unnatural


This Guest post was written by my good friend in Corpus Christi, Mr. John Barrow - purple martin landlord expert and all-around good-guy-extraordinaire. Thanks for sharing, John!
Winnowing Definition: (referring to a group of things, people, animals) to reduce something's size by separating the ones that are useful or relevant from the ones that are not. 
           I have been contemplating the effects of the post-fledge natural winnowing process on a colony this season and, I am becoming convinced that a great deal (or majority) of hatch year (HY) loss occurs in the week or two after fledging occurs.

          At my colony we had moderate drought in 2008, severe drought in 2009, and a banner year in 2010. In 2008 we had numerous jumpers--at one point we were rehabbing a dozen nestlings. In 2009, we had severe brood reduction due to weather related events--nearly all in the nature of fewer eggs produced; many that were not incubated. I recall we had only one jumper, but had 62 nest starts from 45 pairs. This year (2010) we had laying and incubation of large clutches of eggs, with only one jumper that was returned to fledge.


          Fledging each year, occurred in most cases over several days. That scenario, which is probably typical, results in separation of the family unit as adults take their new fledges to a presumably safe location and, starting individually, teach them to find and catch food. Prior to fledging adults have already reduced feeding of nestlings to encourage fledging, and as the post-fledging training occurs, those left in the nest lose weight, often to critical levels. This is what, in most instances absent mites, etc., I believe, causes jumpers. Not an easy problem to deal with. You can stuff the jumper with food and stick it back in the compartment you believe it belongs in. But that doesn't increase the feeding by its parents. These late fledges are really in a battle against time to get out of the nest, fly capably, and remain with their family group, in order to survive.
           Add to this other typical behavior like the adults returning to the cavities with newly fledged young--a form of post fledging memory stamping--and the ensuing confusion as these newly fledged young are attacked, chased and threatened when trying to reenter what is often someone else's turf, you almost certainly have more family unit separation and confusion.

          There has been little study done of the effects of this post fledge winnowing period, and I suspect study would be difficult and for the most part subjective. But it is something I have been reflecting on. Did my adult pairs of martins that fledged 3 young/per pair in 2009, and were probably better equipped to train that lesser number and keep the family unit intact, have a substantially lesser effect on the overall population, then those pairs in 2010 that fledged 6 or 7 per nest; but, that had more difficulty in training the individual fledges, locating and preserving a safe and secure locale for staging that provided a reliable food source; and finally, in keeping the entire family unit intact for the requisite training period to allow the young to become independent? I think there are signals that the overall population fluctuation of a certain area in a good year, may not be significantly different than in a marginal year.

          What does it matter? Assuming there are substantial losses during this post fledging period, what can be done to reduce it? Winnowing in this light is defined as reducing the number of birds in a species until only the best ones are left. It is natural selection at its purest.


          It is not maintaining a colony so large that it becomes a magnet for predators, not only endangering adults during the nesting process, but more so, becoming an attack zone for recently fledged hatch year birds whose survival is dependent on their having a safe and secure training area to learn basic survival skills as part of a family unit. It is not offering housing that serves to maximize the confusion of family units returning to housing as part of post fledging memory stamping at the colony, be it housing that is too closely configured, or stacked row on top of row; it is not building a colony of the size or in an area beyond the capacity of the immediate food supply.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Today, I Fly

I was born on June 4th, 2017.  I was just a wee thing, with 2 brothers and 2 sisters.  My Mom is beautiful and she and Dad feed us often. Big, fat, juicy squishy bugs.  Yum, yum!  There was a funny-looking creature that kept opening our nest door and peeking in.  Mom & Dad would scream at her, but still she came to visit us a lot.  She would make funny noises and count to 5 every time time she opened the door.  Did she just come here to practice her counting?
Today, my Dad told me, "Son, it's time to spread your wings."
I could hear my friend's Mom telling him he too must learn to fly today  He didn't look too happy about it either. 
 
I even have my own personal escort crew in hot-standby.  Not too sure I really trust these guys to "help" though.
We have seen what happens to the neighbors' kids that attempt to fly at this age.  They end up in funny positions, with others pushing them off railings, porches and perches.  Still, Dad is refusing to bring more bugs, while I just continue to sit here.
Man, that's just wrong.  Where's that nice lady with the crickets when you need her?  How about counting out 5 of those, lady?  I finally decided that I would catch my own - I'm getting hungry.  Except, I haven't exactly gotten very far.  Still no food deliveries.  They said I had to FLY, they didn't specify how far!
 Well, I thought hanging out here for a big would be a good idea, but maybe not.
 Nope, definitely not.
 Even Dad isn't acting very happy about my resting here.  What?  Still no FOOD?
 Mom knows how to get me moving.  It's a small snack, but it will do until I get my bearings.
Another 200 feet and Mom finally hands it over.  One small step for purple martindom, one giant leap for me.  My future is looking bright already.