Subject: Purple Martins
Date: Apr 11 22:26:45 2000
From: Stan Kostka - lynnandstan at earthlink.net


For all you folks involved with Western purple martins (Progne subis
arboricola), here is an interesting story about some of their eastern
counterparts (Progne subis subis).
Stan Kostka Arlington Washington



40 Starving Martins Eat 900+ Hand-Tossed Crickets

From: Ken Kostka, Psubis at aol.com, PMCA, Edinboro, PA
Date: 4/11/00
Time: 6:55:14 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.201.211

Comments

I am still in a state of shock, and my arm is pretty sore, but what I
saw today was spectacular, and I cannot quite settle down enough to put
it into words. But I
will try. Andy Troyer called yesterday and said that some of his martins
seemed near to death after 3-4 days of cold, wintry weather. (He has a
colony of over 100 pair in Conneautville, PA, about 12 miles south of
Edinboro, PA.) In the past, he has witnessed early returning martins
perish due to a lack of flying insects during spring cold snaps, and the
weather forecast did not look good for the next few days (more cold
weather). Unfortunately, about 15 of his martins had already returned,
over a week early, and were now at great risk of starvation. When I
arrived at Andy?s home around 2:00 PM with a fishtank of 1000 crickets,
it was overcast and about 45 degrees F. I didn't know weather the
martins would be sitting around, communal cavity roosting, or even dead.
As Andy's son
Adam and I cranked down house after house, we found that there were no
martins present at all! It was cold but there was no wind and Adam
speculated that they might be trying to scrounge up a few insects at the
State Gamelands lake about 4 miles away. We jumped in the car and drove
over. Sure enough, many swallows, including martins, were foraging just
inches above the water; there were a few gnats out but the martins
didn?t seem to be getting much to eat. Several perched in a dead snag
had drooped wings. Anyways, they were foraging very close-by, and we
regretted not having brought the crickets to try flinging at them, so we
decided to drive back to the farm and get them. Upon arriving back at
Andy?s colony site, we noticed a few martins arriving at the housing, so
we decided
to toss a few crickets at them. Two martins were sitting on a T-14
perch, and when we flung the first crickets near them, their heads
turned intently. They had definitely seen it and seemed interested! The
next few crickets we flung caused one of the martins to take off after
it! It just barely missed it! But we needn?t have worried. As we flung
cricket after cricket, more martins started chasing them down. They soon
caught on and were becoming experts at picking them off in mid-air!
Soon, a dozen martins were buzzing overhead, expertly swooping and
banking, twisting and turning, as they snapped up the crickets all
around us! The feeding frenzy was on! It was unbelievable! Several
times, a martin would swoop in at the last minute and expertly snag the
cricket a split-second before it hit the ground! There were over two
dozen martins present within 30 minutes, 40 at the end of an hour. They
were zooming all around us, definitely hungry and eager to accept our
offering. After an hour of the three of us flinging over 300 crickets
each (900 total), the martins were definitely getting full. They had
eaten about 20-25 fat crickets each within one hour, and I was eager to
get back to the office to share the news and make a post. It was a
spectacular and moving experience! I am convinced that nobody?s martins
ever have to die of starvation! Crickets can be ordered from Fluker
Farms at 1-800-735-8537. 1000 six week old crickets (the biggest you can
get) costs $13.50. You can have them delivered overnight by Airborne
Express (if you order by noon on weekdays) for $10.00. The weather is
expected to be in the 30?s tomorrow around here (with snow), and I?m
sure that some martins that would otherwise have perished will now
survive after this cricket feast! I'm sure this technique can also be
used when martins have young in the nest during bad weather.

Ken, PMCA