With the cool snaps and winds that have lingered across the state this summer have come some unwelcome consequences; purple martin chick mortality. Our colonies here in the Willmar area suffered 20-25% chick mortality from the cool snap about 2 weeks ago. The deaths were primarily a result of starvation. Fewer flying insects result in not enough food for the young. About half of my nests that still contained young had dead birds. However, the eastern half of Minnesota has suffered two such cool snaps and as I understand it, had two bouts of chick loss, with some colonies experiencing upwards of 100% mortality. These significant losses are NOT the norm for this species.
So, as the nesting season for martins winds down, I am curious what other martin enthusiasts show for fledgling success. I encourage you to share your comments and summative data with the entire list serve, so we can be jointly educated. Randy Frederickson Willmar ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
