Expert: Roger Lederer - 7/19/2008

Question
I'm finding baby martins on the ground around their boxes.  They have feathers and trying to fly.  However, I've found two dead.  Two are hiding in  a cubile on  the ground  and being cared for by adults.  Earlier I had placed a fledging back into the box. Later in the day I noticed it was dead outside of its box.  It looked like it had been killed.  Since then I have noticed two other fledging dead outside of the boxes.  I have not seen this before.  What is going on?  I do have sparrows.  However, they don't seem to be bothering them much.

Answer
Well, I can't tell you what is going on because I simply don't have enough information about your location, habitat, weather, temperature, vegetation, food supply, predators, competitors, and so on. All of these are factors in Purple Martin survival. Sparrow are competitors but they are not direct predators. You might want to look at the information at the Purple Martin Conservation Association at http://purplemartin.org/ for more information.