LONG WEEK!

It has been a long week of rain, rain, and more rain! We worried about the little babies and unhatched eggs, but could not do any nest checks because as a result! We did make 1 attempt on Wednesday and discovered a couple of babies that had not survived. :( After removing them and then stepping in LOTS of mud, we decided to wait until today. May 30, 2014 Our nest check was VERY exciting! Here are some amazing pictures! We even were able to see a baby hatch!

We did discover a few problems....eggs knocked around in House #1 and "mites" onmany of the babies as you can see in the picture. They are so tiny, they are almost invisible! We used some wonderful stuff from the bird people that helps get rid of them!!!

There are so many wonderful experiences from today!!!! Flat Stanley came to visit and was able to hold his very own baby martin! The 2nd grade was also able to watch a baby hatch from its egg! SO EXCITING!

Friday, May 16, 2014

WE HAVE BABIES!!!

Not only was today Rodeo Day, but it is also the birthday of some precious baby martins! During our nest check in White House #2, this is what we found When you look at the nest, you might not notice anything. BUT THEN.....

You get to see these three tiny babies and 2 eggs that have yet to hatch! All of the kids were very excited and anxious to see the baby up close. We don't want to scare the baby, but we took one out to compare with our picture chart and determine the age of the baby. How old do you think it is?

The students determined that this tiny baby had to have hatched today! So exciting! As we left, all of the beautiful martins that we have watched for weeks flew in....what a wonderful end to a GREAT day!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Monday, May 5

WOW! The martins are really busy today! We went out to clear out any sparrow nests and found LOTS of mommas staying in nests so we couldn't count their eggs. :( We also now are focusing on the Green pod #1 as our first egg to hatch. The Green house #4 pod is EMPTY. What do you think happened to the eggs? Our second graders have learned that there are 3 reasons why they might be gone: 1. The sparrows have knocked out all the eggs. (We did find a lot on the ground) 2. The martins "knew" something was wrong with the eggs and knocked them out. 3. A scout that does not have a mate knocked them out. We will not know for sure what happened but we do know that we now have a total of 48 EGGS!!!!