Cold, purple martins and other critters...

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Intheswamp

New Member
Jun 25, 2010
819
South Central Alabama
With the unusual cold weather this winter in many areas and specifically down here in the deep south I've noticed that the purple martins haven't returned yet. Normally the martins that nest in my gourds are here like clockwork on February 2nd...so far I haven't seen any....which is actually a good thing as they would have starved to death (no flying bugs in this cold air). But, normally the instinct gets them on up here anyhow. I'm hoping that their instinct has kicked into hyper drive this year and they're delaying their return because of the temperatures. They need 50F during the day to feed in. I was worried about them heading back to South America last fall because of the oil spill...I'm hoping that has nothing to do with them being late returning. I'm hoping that with the forecast of warmer temperatures in the near future that they will be returning shortly.

I've also seen more bobcats and foxes than normal and birds of prey very active....they're probably also struggling to keep their fires fed. Farmers are busy feeding hay to their cows, poultry growers are burning propane out the yingyang. Looks like all kinds of critters have had to alter their patterns because of the cold we've had.

Just thinking....
Ed
 
Intheswamp said:
With the unusual cold weather this winter in many areas and specifically down here in the deep south I've noticed that the purple martins haven't returned yet. Normally the martins that nest in my gourds are here like clockwork on February 2nd...so far I haven't seen any....which is actually a good thing as they would have starved to death (no flying bugs in this cold air). But, normally the instinct gets them on up here anyhow. I'm hoping that their instinct has kicked into hyper drive this year and they're delaying their return because of the temperatures. They need 50F during the day to feed in. I was worried about them heading back to South America last fall because of the oil spill...I'm hoping that has nothing to do with them being late returning. I'm hoping that with the forecast of warmer temperatures in the near future that they will be returning shortly.

I've also seen more bobcats and foxes than normal and birds of prey very active....they're probably also struggling to keep their fires fed. Farmers are busy feeding hay to their cows, poultry growers are burning propane out the yingyang. Looks like all kinds of critters have had to alter their patterns because of the cold we've had.

Just thinking....
Ed

Nice observations. I think as the dominant life-form on the planet (at least in our minds) we have severely underestimated what impact we might have on things overall.
 
Without a doubt, bacteria and fungi are the dominant lifeforms on the planet. Each and every one of us have trillions of bacteria in our gut and on our skin. The largest organism on earth is a big fungus at 2200 acres! If we completely mess up and drive ourselves into extinction, these ancient lifeforms will continue to survive and thrive.
 
BeGreen said:
Without a doubt, bacteria and fungi are the dominant lifeforms on the planet. Each and every one of us have trillions of bacteria in our gut and on our skin. The largest organism on earth is a big fungus at 2200 acres! If we completely mess up and drive ourselves into extinction, these ancient lifeforms will continue to survive and thrive.

I guess I wasn't thinking "dominant" as in numbers or volume. I was thinking more on impact.

Kind of scary to think that humans are basically "superorganisms" in that we are host to so many microorganisms..yuck.
 
It's a symbiotic relationship. Most bacteria are beneficial in this regard. Our digestion depends on them. This makes one think twice about our attempts to eradicate them with antiseptics and antibiotics. Doing so can have some negative consequences.
 
BeGreen said:
It's a symbiotic relationship. Most bacteria are beneficial in this regard. Our digestion depends on them. This makes one think twice about our attempts to eradicate them with antiseptics and antibiotics. Doing so can have some negative consequences.

Anti-bacterial soap is another culprit, BG. The more you use one of the "anti-" agents the more the little critters mutate, morph, whatever and turn into super-bugs.

Yelp, all them buggers in the guts work together...get one out of kilter and things go bad. Antibiotics should be a last line of defense.

Anyhow, there predicting 70F down here in south Alabama next week...oughta get the lower levels in the food chains moving more. Some of the critters will be making up for lost time.

Ed
 
Wow, 70F, that will jumpstart things for sure.
 
Looks like the deer are jumping tonight, too. Gonna be in the low 20's tonight (cold for down here!) and apparently it's got them running...was on my way to church to check on the heat and a big buck ran across in front of me. Coming back home when I hit the main highway a state trooper was working what appeared to be a truck that had been deer struck. I was glad to get home and off the road.

Oh, the robins have been wrapping our place up the last several days...some people say that's a sign of spring coming...some people say they taste good. :lol:

Ed
 
Intheswamp said:
Oh, the robins have been wrapping our place up the last several days...some people say that's a sign of spring coming...some people say they taste good. :lol:

I'd say it's been a long winter and they are really hard up for protein. :sick: They'd go nuts here, robins stay year round in our neck of the woods. We have flock of a dozen or more stopping by every day.
 
BeGreen said:
Intheswamp said:
Oh, the robins have been wrapping our place up the last several days...some people say that's a sign of spring coming...some people say they taste good. :lol:

I'd say it's been a long winter and they are really hard up for protein. :sick: They'd go nuts here, robins stay year round in our neck of the woods. We have flock of a dozen or more stopping by every day.
Oh, when I say wrapping our place up I mean walking outside and a hundred or two rise up. Maybe it's the fact that it's been years since any pesticides have been used on the place and there's an abundance of ground critters. Of course, after typing that I look out and only see a single redbird. :blank: It's a migratory thing...happens each year in mid to late winter...normally late winter. ;-) Other times of the year we have the small 2-? bird groups.

Ed
 
Judging from reports online, I think Purple Martins returned to south Louisiana about the normal time this year, which is early January. They are probably staying near large bodies of water where flying insects are not as much affected by cold weather. I expect they'll be fine - they have been risking their lives by flying north in EARLY spring for a long time. To me it has always seemed odd that they show up in january, when there isn't much for them to eat, and leave in August, just when the supply of big flying insects is at its peak. I guess food isn't their biggest concern.
 
There's been years when I wondered if they'd survive up here because of the cold. I could pretty well set my calendar on them returning on February 2nd ...this year has been different, though. Something tells me this week I'll be spotting some of those speedsters...supposed to settle into the mid-70's in the day and upper 40's at night. Instinct can be mighty strong in them.

Ed
 
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