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Started by mike.mcdowall at 03 May 2010 8:43 AM. Topic has 3 replies.
  
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 03 May 2010, 8:43 AM
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mike.mcdowall
Joined on 03 Mar 2010
E.Lothian
Posts 29
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I have house martin nests on my house which always fascinate me. I guess quite a lot of farmers do as well, and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on my recent observations.
Unusually this winter, nearly all my nests fell off in the bad weather. I now have lots of birds back, but they are not getting stuck into nest building as I would have expected. They have been fiddling about and really getting nowhere. One nest has been built to the extent of a two inch shelf, taking more than a week to get that far. And that is it - no others. In the past I have seen a whole nest built in two days - on more than one occasion.
This has led me to wonder how much part learning plays in nest building expertise. Are my house martins young birds, waiting for an experienced elder to show them how ? This possibility occurred to me when comparing dates of arrival with normal years - these birds are with me early compared with normal, taking a risk. Maybe older birds have more sense and will arive over the next few weeks. Of course, that earliness might explain the lack of interest in nest building.
I have also noticed that nest building often involves more than two birds - possibly an older bird helping and teaching at the same time ?
I went looking for research on this, and there doesn't seem to be much, and it is old (e.g. 1911), when many techniques were not available (though observation might have been much better).
So, has anybody made any interesting observations which might inform on this - or raise further questions ?
Cheers, Mike, E.Lothian.
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03 May 2010, 8:46 AM
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mike.mcdowall
Joined on 03 Mar 2010
E.Lothian
Posts 29
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Oh - and it has also occurred to me that by carefully preserving as many nests as possible from one season to the next, I might be reducing expertise in nest building. However, in the last few years nest losses have not been small, lots were built last year (nest count was up too), so I don't think that is a particular problem this year.
Mike.
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04 May 2010, 2:18 PM
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richardwinspear
Joined on 09 Nov 2005
Posts 131
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Is there plenty of mud around? It has been fairly wet around us, but a friend in the Yorkshire Dales said that they had had no significant rain yet this spring, so guess some areas may be too dry to provide them with the raw materials?
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04 May 2010, 8:32 PM
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mike.mcdowall
Joined on 03 Mar 2010
E.Lothian
Posts 29
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Yep, plenty mud. It has been dry, but I dug my pond in anticipation of it never filling as full as it has. There is still about 2 metres depth of water in it, clay soil, so they won't run out of mud for a while yet.
Yesterday and today have seen some actual progress on three nests. I wonder if one of these is newly arrived birds. I haven't been around to watch, but am left wondering whether these could be more experienced birds and others are learning from them.
I have also searched again for research on the extent to which instinct or learning are impotant in nest building skills. There seems to be precious little and I even found a comment from an Alfred Russell Wallace bemoaning the lack of research. There is some from 1911 and others dataing back to the 16th century which did seem to cast doubt on the hypothesis that instinct alone was involved.
Mike.
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