Terry Suchma
07-28-2006, 04:48 PM
Dear Landlords,
We attempted to start a new colony here at the office in Shorewood, IL.
We have all heard how difficult it is to get martins going in the Chicago metro area. The office is now about 45 miles SW of Chicago and at the farthest limits of Chicago's suburbia before it is more rural.
There is a 4-5 acre lake outside with an open area and this is where a new Troyer-14 house stands.
In addition, there is a landlord that lives about 2-3 miles away but closer as the martin flies.
OK, there is:
1. Good location
2. On water
3. Site is clear for open approach and departure by martins
4. Good martin house
5. Played every lure sound available
6. Landlords have excellent management skills
7. Best summer on record, weather wise, in many seasons.
8. Lots of insects
Despite all of these good things--No martins!
The office had visitors but no takers.
WHY?
After a short analysis, we think it was because we had Tree Swallows.
At our last office site in Burr Ridge, IL, some 20 miles SW of Chicago right, smack, in the Chicago suburbia, we had no Tree Swallows. While we have known how difficult, pugnacious and tenacious these little martin cousins can be, we had no idea how formidible an opponent we were dealing with during the martin season. We just did not know!
We already are well aware of the Tree Swallow Emergency page by Dan Drew. We knew from Dan's philosophy that if PM wannabes erected a bluebird house up in the close vicinity of a newly installed PM house and pole, and steered the TSs to this house, that once they nested, bred and produced "one" egg, that they would defend the entire PM colony site from all other Tree Swallows.
That they did! When the Tree Swallows laid that one egg, we surely thought, "We are in like Fling!"
The Tree Swallows not only did an outstanding job in keeping out several other nest competitor Tree Swallows but also defended it agains all Red Winged Blackbirds, American Robins, Mourning Doves, Spotted Sandpipers, crows, grackles, etc.
No species of bird was spared their aggressiveness.
Whenever martins came, it didn't matter where the Tree Swallows were, they saw the martins as intruders and would swoop past and knock the martins' blocks off.
Repeatedly!
Over and over, again!
Why would any self-respecting martins come back?
Was this an aberrant pair? Or, just the norm for Tree Swallows?
The only time we observed Tree Swallows reneging on their vendetta was when their young were older and more demanding for nurishment. At this time, the martins were quite occupied with their own family needs.
Even the new Eastern Bluebird that wanted to nest in our yard had great difficulty in staying. Before we knew we had a bluebird, we observed Ma and Pa Tree Swallow pinning some bird down on the ground. We looked to see if it was an unsuspecting martin or another Tree Swallow. We were very surprised and excited to see it was a bluebird.
We broke that entanglement up and quickly put out another bluebird house at the other end of the lot.
Day 2 we observed that the bluebird had one of the Tree Swallows down on the ground in the same stranglehold we witnessed by the Tree Swallows the preceding day.
Day 3, fortunately, there appeared to be some kind of understanding now between the partnerless bluebird and the nesting Tree Swallows. However, there contineued to be many, daily minor skirmishes due to the fact that the bluebird was focused on owning every perchtop in the lot. All high perching places were used, including the PM house as well as the top of the Tree Swallows box.
Well, the Tree Swallows fledged three young and the bluebirds (yes, he finally found a female coming down the pike) are still tending to a nest of five bluebird young.
Next season what should we do?
If we had an established colony of martins, there would be little problem with these Tree Swallow terrorisits. PMs would quickly put them into their place. Afterall, PMs are top swallows.
The problem, we think, arose due to the fact that we were attempting to attract subadult martins here. And, as we all know, how lilly livered these first year adults can be. Every bird bosses them around and dictates what females they can match up with and which compartments they can take. They are no match for feisty and very territorial Tree Swallows.
At the same time, we easily attracted a subadult pair of Tree Swallows.
Both subadult species arrive later than do their adult counterparts.
Had the office attracted an early adult pair of Tree Swallows, it is very possible that the adult pair would have finished their nesting / breeding cycle in time for us to still successfully attract subadult PMs.
While we did enjoy the little terrorists here, we know that next season, we are abandoning the Tree Swallow Emergency theory and keep out all nesting seeking Tree Swallows until we have martins firmly entrenched here.
Tree Swallows are more of a problem than we even thought. We are wiser here now and will chalk this all down to experience. Our thinking on Tree Swallows has drastically changed.
Who knew?
Terry
We attempted to start a new colony here at the office in Shorewood, IL.
We have all heard how difficult it is to get martins going in the Chicago metro area. The office is now about 45 miles SW of Chicago and at the farthest limits of Chicago's suburbia before it is more rural.
There is a 4-5 acre lake outside with an open area and this is where a new Troyer-14 house stands.
In addition, there is a landlord that lives about 2-3 miles away but closer as the martin flies.
OK, there is:
1. Good location
2. On water
3. Site is clear for open approach and departure by martins
4. Good martin house
5. Played every lure sound available
6. Landlords have excellent management skills
7. Best summer on record, weather wise, in many seasons.
8. Lots of insects
Despite all of these good things--No martins!
The office had visitors but no takers.
WHY?
After a short analysis, we think it was because we had Tree Swallows.
At our last office site in Burr Ridge, IL, some 20 miles SW of Chicago right, smack, in the Chicago suburbia, we had no Tree Swallows. While we have known how difficult, pugnacious and tenacious these little martin cousins can be, we had no idea how formidible an opponent we were dealing with during the martin season. We just did not know!
We already are well aware of the Tree Swallow Emergency page by Dan Drew. We knew from Dan's philosophy that if PM wannabes erected a bluebird house up in the close vicinity of a newly installed PM house and pole, and steered the TSs to this house, that once they nested, bred and produced "one" egg, that they would defend the entire PM colony site from all other Tree Swallows.
That they did! When the Tree Swallows laid that one egg, we surely thought, "We are in like Fling!"
The Tree Swallows not only did an outstanding job in keeping out several other nest competitor Tree Swallows but also defended it agains all Red Winged Blackbirds, American Robins, Mourning Doves, Spotted Sandpipers, crows, grackles, etc.
No species of bird was spared their aggressiveness.
Whenever martins came, it didn't matter where the Tree Swallows were, they saw the martins as intruders and would swoop past and knock the martins' blocks off.
Repeatedly!
Over and over, again!
Why would any self-respecting martins come back?
Was this an aberrant pair? Or, just the norm for Tree Swallows?
The only time we observed Tree Swallows reneging on their vendetta was when their young were older and more demanding for nurishment. At this time, the martins were quite occupied with their own family needs.
Even the new Eastern Bluebird that wanted to nest in our yard had great difficulty in staying. Before we knew we had a bluebird, we observed Ma and Pa Tree Swallow pinning some bird down on the ground. We looked to see if it was an unsuspecting martin or another Tree Swallow. We were very surprised and excited to see it was a bluebird.
We broke that entanglement up and quickly put out another bluebird house at the other end of the lot.
Day 2 we observed that the bluebird had one of the Tree Swallows down on the ground in the same stranglehold we witnessed by the Tree Swallows the preceding day.
Day 3, fortunately, there appeared to be some kind of understanding now between the partnerless bluebird and the nesting Tree Swallows. However, there contineued to be many, daily minor skirmishes due to the fact that the bluebird was focused on owning every perchtop in the lot. All high perching places were used, including the PM house as well as the top of the Tree Swallows box.
Well, the Tree Swallows fledged three young and the bluebirds (yes, he finally found a female coming down the pike) are still tending to a nest of five bluebird young.
Next season what should we do?
If we had an established colony of martins, there would be little problem with these Tree Swallow terrorisits. PMs would quickly put them into their place. Afterall, PMs are top swallows.
The problem, we think, arose due to the fact that we were attempting to attract subadult martins here. And, as we all know, how lilly livered these first year adults can be. Every bird bosses them around and dictates what females they can match up with and which compartments they can take. They are no match for feisty and very territorial Tree Swallows.
At the same time, we easily attracted a subadult pair of Tree Swallows.
Both subadult species arrive later than do their adult counterparts.
Had the office attracted an early adult pair of Tree Swallows, it is very possible that the adult pair would have finished their nesting / breeding cycle in time for us to still successfully attract subadult PMs.
While we did enjoy the little terrorists here, we know that next season, we are abandoning the Tree Swallow Emergency theory and keep out all nesting seeking Tree Swallows until we have martins firmly entrenched here.
Tree Swallows are more of a problem than we even thought. We are wiser here now and will chalk this all down to experience. Our thinking on Tree Swallows has drastically changed.
Who knew?
Terry