2009 Colony

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Entrances By Sandy</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>    </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Entrances By Sandy"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id219.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Colony 2004"><U>My Colony 2004</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id220.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Colony 2005"><U>My Colony 2005</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id243.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Colony 2006"><U>My Colony 2006</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id249.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2007 Colony"><U>2007 Colony</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id258.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2008 Colony"><U>2008 Colony</U></A>   |   <B>2009 Colony</B>   |   <A HREF="id267.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2010 Colony"><U>2010 Colony</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id268.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Colony 2011"><U>My Colony 2011</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id266.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Satellite Colony at Work"><U>Satellite Colony at Work</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id269.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Work Colony 2011"><U>Work Colony 2011</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I><B>2009 Colony</B></I></div> <div> <B>During the off season, I converted all of my 100 gourds, except for 6, to Excluder II entrances.  I also converted all 14 compartments of my T-14 to Excluder II entrances.  While I had many Excluder II entrances used last year, I also had many WDC entrances used, so it will be interesting to see what the birds do.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>This year, I saw my first Martin on March the 7th.  It was a male ASY.  The next bird I saw was a female ASY and I saw her on March the 13th.  By March the 19th, I had 2 pair.  I was up to 60 birds or so by April 4th.  As far as the entrance change, the earliest birds seem to have a longer learning curve on the Excluder II entrances, but as more and more birds showed up, the learning curve became almost zero because of the haste and need to claim a good gourd.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>As of May 2, 2009, I have 76 nests.  Of those 76 nests, 39 had at least one egg.  I have a total of 122 eggs so far.  So far, I have found no nests with mud dams, but this year, the nest are very large.  Nest building is still going on strong, as is the oyster shell consumption.  The main wave of subbies has yet to arrive.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Well, here is the May 9, 2009 nest check report.  78 nests are built, with 57 containing at least one egg.  Most had 6, with a couple that had 7 eggs.  So far, I have a total of 285 eggs that I know of.  That is an average of 5 eggs per nest.  The female that wouldn't move had two eggs last week, but I do not know her true count so I only gave her two even though I suspect she has 5 or 6.  There was another female on another gourd rack that wouldn't move, but I know she had 6 eggs last week so that is what I gave her credit for.  I did find one nest that had 5 eggs in it, but two had been moved completely out of the nest bowl and to the other side of the gourd.  I did not count those two eggs because I figured they were moved for a reason.  If they are still in the same place next week, I will remove them from the gourd. No mites, nor dead birds, were found.  In spite of the heavy thunderstorms and heavy winds we have had for almost a week, all nests were nice and dry.  Subbies still moving in and there are 36 empty gourds or housing compartments that they can take.  I do have 3 pair nesting in my T-14.  Last year was the first year any had nested in it and that was only one pair.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>5/16/09  </B><B>It is all going on here today. Subbies still arriving and claiming gourds. Nest building going on strong. Eggs being laid and more being incubated. Eggs hatching. Today's nest check revealed 85 total nests, 63 on which had eggs, eggs and hatchlings, or just hatchlings. The rest of the nests are in different stages of being built, but most had green leaves and appeared ready for eggs. Today, we found 312 eggs and 17 hatchlings in the 63 active nests, which is an average of 5.2 per nest. All nests were dry and no mites.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>5/23/09  Subbies are still arriving and nest building.  Today's nests check revealed 85 nests, some with green leaves and ready for eggs, and 72 nests that have either eggs, chicks, or eggs and chicks.  I have 150 eggs with more to come as two nests had only one egg, plus the 13 nests that appear ready for eggs.  Also, 209 chicks that are doing well.  That is a total of 359 eggs and chicks in 72 nests for an average of 4.99 per nest.  Only one unhatched egg was found in a nest that had sizable chicks, so I removed that egg and did not include it in the egg count.  All chicks were doing well.  No dead martins, chicks, or mites were found.  So, it looks as if my almost complete changeover to Excluder II entrances has gone well with no loss of any pair and am on pace to gain 13 pair for the year, so far.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>5/30/09  This will probably be my last nest check as I have some nestlings that are 19-20 days old.  Today's nest check confirmed 81 nesting pair with either eggs, eggs and nestlings, or just nestlings.  I have a total of 107 unhatched eggs.  This number should increase by a few more eggs as some of the nests were subbie nests that only had 1 or 2 eggs.  I had 270 nestlings hatched so far.  That is a total of 377 potential nestlings.  On a down side, I had to throw away 10 unhatched eggs.  These eggs are not included in the above count.  The good news is that there were no dead birds or nestlings, and no signs of mites or any other problems in the nests. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="103aee330.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="563" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1041eee80.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="1000" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1042ee330.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="563" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1040eeaf0.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="687" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1044ee630.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="611" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1046ee7a0.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="890" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1048eefa0.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="506" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="104aee2a0.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="554" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="104cee410.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="321" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="104eee650.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="613" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1050ee4e0.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="590" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1066eed30.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="723" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1068eeb40.jpg" border=0 width="750" height="692" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id258.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2008 Colony"><U><I><B>Previous Page</B></I></U></A><I><B>              </B></I><A HREF="mailto:sbunn1@suddenlink.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:sbunn1@suddenlink.net"><U><I><B>Contact Me</B></I></U></A><I><B>              </B></I><I><B>Next Page</B></I></div> </td> </tr></table></body>