June 25 there were four eggs in gourd #1 and also on June 28, still just four eggs.
So I guess they may be finished laying. We'll see.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Monday, June 22, 2020
Saturday June 20, 2020
One egg in the northeast gourd. Nests in both gourds 0 and 1 (SE and NE).
June 22, Monday: 2 eggs in gourd 1 (NE gourd) - yay!
Dad was here yesterday for Father's Day and he got to watch the martins cruise around. Sometimes there are up to 6 here - usually early ~7am but only 2 tend to stay all day.
June 22, Monday: 2 eggs in gourd 1 (NE gourd) - yay!
Dad was here yesterday for Father's Day and he got to watch the martins cruise around. Sometimes there are up to 6 here - usually early ~7am but only 2 tend to stay all day.
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Start of my colony 10 years after I first tried - Friday June 12, 2020
The year is 2010 and I plunge into the idea that our house and 80 acres of surrounding land is the ideal purple martin habitat. My dad, 86 years old, and I used to lie in the grass in the back yard and watch the martins soar. But one summer the house got taken down (I was too young to remember why but I suspect he'll blame my mom) and they never returned.
We live within 2 miles of a river, have a swimming pool to attract them, have open spaces to set a house, so I figure they'll come and nest here easily.
It is now 2020 and I have put up a second house (last year) and this spring added porches to my four gourds. My adult children have made jest for years about me playing my CD of the "dawn song" hoping it would attract the aerial artists. One of the wonderful staff at the Purple Martin Conservation Association said that I seem to be doing everything possible and he added perhaps a mirror in a compartment (so they look in and "see" another bird in the colony) and some mud at the compartment entrances may make them think it is an established colony. So I did that too.
For the past 4-5 years, at the end of May into late June, I have had martins stop by. They cruise around, they glance in the digs but they never stay and eventually move on. I have an old wooden martin house about 100 feet away that used to get taken over by sparrows so we boarded it up long ago. My kids think the new martins see that, decide this is a ghetto and leave.
Well, lo and behold, we were out of town the weekend of May 30 and my daughter and her husband stayed here (due to the violent protests in her neighborhood over George Floyd's murder at the hands of the Minneapolis police) and she said she thought maybe two martins had stopped by. A few days later, when the dawn song was playing, I also saw them. That was around June 2. Sometimes three martins came by. I can not distinguish subadult males from females so I don't know which is which. EXCEPT the first pair that came by was definitely an adult male - it was purple all over. In the past ten days, 2-3 birds have been here, probably a subadult male though.
My dad is now 96 years old and I would give anything to have him see martins soaring around again so I am hoping that they can come out on Father's Day and hopefully the birds will give him a show. Friday June 12, I saw one of the birds in my linden tree attacking something and I finally realized it was trying to pull leaves off. Then they both went into the apple trees and pulled bits of leaves. They seem to favor the east facing gourds, the SE one has the biggest nest. I will do a nest check mid day today and then plan on every Sunday until eggs start appearing, then I will do checks every 4-5 days per the PMCA's recommendations
This is a success story so far - if these two little birds can fledge some young it will be even better because then hopefully, I will have finally established a colony and they will be back every year. I hope to be a good landlord - I have studied up for ten years and I have my nest check handouts ready. Bring it on!
We live within 2 miles of a river, have a swimming pool to attract them, have open spaces to set a house, so I figure they'll come and nest here easily.
It is now 2020 and I have put up a second house (last year) and this spring added porches to my four gourds. My adult children have made jest for years about me playing my CD of the "dawn song" hoping it would attract the aerial artists. One of the wonderful staff at the Purple Martin Conservation Association said that I seem to be doing everything possible and he added perhaps a mirror in a compartment (so they look in and "see" another bird in the colony) and some mud at the compartment entrances may make them think it is an established colony. So I did that too.
For the past 4-5 years, at the end of May into late June, I have had martins stop by. They cruise around, they glance in the digs but they never stay and eventually move on. I have an old wooden martin house about 100 feet away that used to get taken over by sparrows so we boarded it up long ago. My kids think the new martins see that, decide this is a ghetto and leave.
Well, lo and behold, we were out of town the weekend of May 30 and my daughter and her husband stayed here (due to the violent protests in her neighborhood over George Floyd's murder at the hands of the Minneapolis police) and she said she thought maybe two martins had stopped by. A few days later, when the dawn song was playing, I also saw them. That was around June 2. Sometimes three martins came by. I can not distinguish subadult males from females so I don't know which is which. EXCEPT the first pair that came by was definitely an adult male - it was purple all over. In the past ten days, 2-3 birds have been here, probably a subadult male though.
My dad is now 96 years old and I would give anything to have him see martins soaring around again so I am hoping that they can come out on Father's Day and hopefully the birds will give him a show. Friday June 12, I saw one of the birds in my linden tree attacking something and I finally realized it was trying to pull leaves off. Then they both went into the apple trees and pulled bits of leaves. They seem to favor the east facing gourds, the SE one has the biggest nest. I will do a nest check mid day today and then plan on every Sunday until eggs start appearing, then I will do checks every 4-5 days per the PMCA's recommendations
This is a success story so far - if these two little birds can fledge some young it will be even better because then hopefully, I will have finally established a colony and they will be back every year. I hope to be a good landlord - I have studied up for ten years and I have my nest check handouts ready. Bring it on!
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