House Martins

Jo2go2010 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-09-2010, 11:34 PM

Hi Im a new member, and have a question,
Im lucky enough to have had several nests of House Martins nesting over the window eves and over a drain pipe at my house, However Ive recently become aware that in all but one of the nests, the occupants are gone, However one nest still occupied the occupants have still not flown and are becomming inreasingly noisy, sounding like hungry fledgelings, this is most noticable and now all through the night too.
I havent noticed any adult birds from this nest on the wing lately. Im concerened that its a bit late and why the birds in this nest still are not flying ? Does anyone know if this is normal for them to still be in the nest at this time, as it seems strange that all the others have left and Im wondering if there is a problem ?

Picidae · #2 (**permalink**) 12-09-2010, 12:47 AM

The wet weather has probably delayed nesting and it may well be a second or even third brood. There are still occupied nests around. I had much the same thing a few weeks ago - noisy fledglings but no sign of parents. Parents will travel long distances for food and it's unlikely they will have abandoned them at this time of year, but not impossible. Some members of a fledged brood occasionally use the nest site to roost in before leaving the nest site completely and often will return for several days to the nest site to be fed by parents. House Martins can still be around very late - I've seen them right up until November! Also saw a family flock hawking over the local hospital on Wednesday.

There was some research done into desertion of late broods but I can't find much (note though, these examples were October records of nests when the bulk of migration was over and not sure whether there is more recent literature) Popular Science - Google Books

The encouraging aspect is that this year the main bulk of House Martins were a good week late in arriving Spring 2010 and the excerpt above was referring to nestlings/youngsters found in the month of November. Much might depend on the weather for the next few weeks. If it stays mild then migration will be slightly later anyway.

Jo2go2010 · #3 (**permalink**) 12-09-2010, 01:07 AM

Thankyou for that info, I did try looking on line but could find very little info, I was a little concerned, this is the first year they have been so late here, and I have heard the fledgelings getting louder, they sound hungry, it continues at night too. I shall keep my eye on them, however if they have been abandoned by the migration instincts of the parent birds, I guess there is not much I can do, aside from contact the RSPB and Im not sure there would be much they could do, if nature has played its course, anyway thanks again for that link and fingers crossed they are just late leavers.

Picidae · #4 (**permalink**) 12-09-2010, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jo2go2010

Thankyou for that info, I was a little concerned, this is the first year they have been so late here, I shall now relax, thanks again.

No problem. There's still plenty of time to head South and it's not unusual for House Martins to have broods into October so it's those that may have problems if we hit a cold patch - at the moment, still plenty of insects around. Unfortunately, with broods that are abandoned later, rescue centres are unlikely to be able to do much as they are generally unable to over winter them and it would be against the law to release them once the migration period is over.

dursley92 · #5 (**permalink**) 25-09-2010, 12:07 PM

We are in Gloucestershire and many of the houses round us have house martins every year. I thought they had all left a couple of weeks ago but then I noticed one nest was still busy, and now there have been about 8 or 10 birds still zooming around. Just wondering if its not a bit too late for them to still be here?