Does cold weather affect Purple Martins?
Purple Martins are adversely affected by weather in which the temperature is constantly below about 48 degrees for three days or there is constant rain for a period longer than three days. The martins dietary staple, flying insects, do not fly in these conditions, and after the three day period, martins will begin to die from starvation. Cold weather will also lead to “communal roosting” by martins, i.e., many birds will congregate in one nest cavity for warmth. Many martin landlords have successfully used emergency cold weather feeding of crickets to martins. See Update issue 9(4), “Cricket Tossing: A New Emergency Feeding Technique for Purple Martins” http://www.purplemartin.org/update/9(4)crickettoss.html Other Cricket feeding information can be found at: http://purplemartin.org/forumarchives/archive/CricketTossing.htm and http://purplemartin.org/forumarchives/archive/CricketFeed2001.
Purple Martins are adversely affected by weather in which the temperature is constantly below about 48 degrees for three days or there is constant rain for a period longer than three days. The martins dietary staple, flying insects, do not fly in these conditions, and after the three day period, martins will begin to die from starvation. Cold weather will also lead to “communal roosting” by martins, i.e., many birds will congregate in one nest cavity for warmth. Many martin landlords have successfully used emergency cold weather feeding of crickets to martins.
