Whitmore Lake
| Owner: |
Mary D. |
| Location: |
Whitmore Lake, Mi |
This lakefront colony was started with an aluminum martin house in 1993. Two years later, the house was replaced with natural gourds, to which I credit the early growth of my colony. In 2001 the natural gourds were replaced with crescent SREH SuperGourds with homemade interior/exterior porches. For 2005 I am installing 2" deep tunnel entries with WDC SREH holes on all SuperGourds. This colony has been eating supplemental food from a platform feeder since
2001. Initially trained to eat crickets and mealworms, the martins now gobble down scrambled eggs. I credit the survival of my colony through the last 4 seasons of cold,
wet weather to supplemental feeding. |
|
Click for larger photo
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| Yearly Colony Data |
| Year |
# Compartments |
Type |
# Active Nests |
# Eggs |
# Hatched |
# Fledged |
| Small |
Large |
| 2012 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2009 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2008 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2007 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2006 |
0 |
48 |
SuperGourd |
47 |
249 |
223 |
219 |
| 2005 |
0 |
48 |
SuperGourd |
44 |
223 |
197 |
188 |
| 2004 |
0 |
48 |
SuperGourd |
47 |
253 |
213 |
195 |
| 2003 |
0 |
48 |
SuperGourd |
43 |
216 |
197 |
179 |
| 2002 |
0 |
32 |
SuperGourd |
28 |
137 |
119 |
116 |
| 2001 |
0 |
32 |
SuperGourd |
31 |
151 |
127 |
121 |
| 2000 |
0 |
32 |
SuperGourd |
30 |
157 |
131 |
120 |
|
|
| Predator (pole) guards used? |
Yes |
| Owl/crow guards used? |
Yes |
| Units cleaned out yearly? |
Yes |
| New bedding put in compartments each spring? |
Yes |
| Starlings and/or sparrows shot or trapped at the colony site? |
Yes |
| The dawnsong or daytime chatter played at the colony site? |
No |
| Purple martin decoys used at the colony site? |
No |
| Nearest body of water: |
five feet |
| Nearest tree that is taller than the martin housing: |
40 feet |
| The following are provided: |
egg shells
mealworms
crickets
scrambled eggs
|
| Entry hole types: |
crescent
excluder
|
|
