Purple Martin Forum

Hello to all, Dropped my racks today and here are my results. Rack #1 - 40 young and 36 fledges. Rack #2 - 98 young and 16 fledges. Rack #3 - 58 young and 10 fledges. 196 young still in the nests and 62 have taken flight. Did find 2 dead young on today's count. Eggs still in the nests are infertile....

Hello to all, Dropped my colony this weekend. Total young now at 238 scattered among 61 gourds. Egg count is 31. Potential fledges is 269; down 19 from last week. Go figure. Example - Upper 1 of Rack 1 had 6 eggs on 4/18 and no eggs the week prior. Had 6 eggs 4/24 and 3 young but no eggs on 5/2 chec...

Hello to all, Dropped my racks this weekend and here are the data. Going to give totals by rack this week followed by a grand total. Rack #1 - Three gourds with nesting material but empty, 27 eggs and 60 young. Rack #2 - all gourds with production, 35 eggs and 86 young. Rack #3 - 5 empty nests, 18 e...

Hi to all, Nothing special; just out on my deck enjoying a pleasant summer afternoon here in south Florida. My martins are active bringing bugs to the nestlings. I dropped one rack yesterday and have youngsters from eggs, pinkies to guys sporting pinfeathers. Will finish my count of the colony tomor...

Hello to all, Dropped my 3 racks over the weekend and here are the results for the 72 gourds. 64 gourds so far are productive - eggs. 8 gourds had some nesting material but still haven't developed thus far. Egg count is now at 155 and young (pinkies to pin feathers) 135. If all survive, which is dou...

Hi All, Observed a ASY male on the porch of U12 - Rack 1. Had a small mosquito hawk in its bill and entered the gourd. Feeding Mom? My checks are showing young still with prominent yolk sacs. This gourd had 1 egg on 4/11. 5 on 4/18, 5 on 4/24 and 5 young on 5/2. Good hatch but too young to eat mosqu...

Conrad, Eight to take care of is gonna be tuff. I would suspect you may find one starves due to feeding competition from older/stronger siblings in a nest that size. If you find this happens again I would be more likely to put the blame on sub-adults rather than mom tossing one of her kids. Maybe yo...

Hi to all Dropped my 3 racks today and here are my totals. 10 gourds - look like a full completed nest but no eggs, 5 gourds had a gathering of leaves and pine needles. The remaining 57 gourds had a combination of 191 eggs and 61 young. Found 3 remains of martin eggs under Rack 1. Sub-adult activity...

Hi Laura, Don't get too upset. Burrowing owls and martins are just about the same size - a mean martin may out box a slim burrowing owl! Remember all God's creatures gotta eat. Burrowing owls are in a lot more trouble than martins. Florida's expanding population is currently "paving" over ...

Hello to all, Dropped my racks today for a count. Usually do this on Saturdays but gonna be busy this weekend. Skipping all the details of each rack and just going to the totals. A single gourd is still bare - nothing but plastic. Eleven gourds contained just a few leaves/pine needles, 20 gourds had...

Hope you don't run into problems with starlings and house sparrows - those big round entrances look mighty inviting for the bad boys. Do you have a predator guard below what we can see in the photos? These two mentioned threats could turn out to be more trouble than up side down plastic martins. Mik...

Hello to all, Dropped my racks today and here are the totals. Rack 1 - 4 gourds with just a few leaves and pine needles, 20 nests and 57 eggs. Three gourds had "sitting" females, probably on eggs, but I gave the girls space - no egg count. Rack 2 - 6 gourds with just a few needles and leav...

Hello Everyone, Dropped my racks this beautiful afternoon and here are the results. Rack 1 - 19 nests, 5 gourds bare to a few leaves, 6 gourds with eggs (varied from 1 to 4), total eggs - 13. Rack 2 - 14 nests, 10 gourds bare to a few leaves,, 2 gourds with eggs (varied from 2 to 5), total eggs - 7....

Hello to all, Dropped my 3 racks last week (3/30) and again today. What a change. Last week I counted 59 gourds either empty or with just a few leaves/pine needles and 13 appearing to be under construction. This week I had just 11 bare gourds and 61 "under construction." Next check should ...

Hello to all,
Noticed birds going to ground this morning. They're gathering pine needles and bringing their booty to the gourds. First noticed this behavior last year on 3/20; 8 days later this year.
Mike

Thanks Phil for your observation. Martin watching this morning and around 10-11 AM still a lot of vocalization and "gourd-swapping" but no nest-material gathering. I try to begin my weekly nest check routine so I can catch the dates of 1st eggs deposited - usually 7 to 10 days after nest b...

Laura, What a welcoming spot! I'd set up there if I were a martin. Good luck this season. Mike, Palm City, FL

Hello to all, Mike here in Palm City, Fl. Have a gaggle of martins hanging around my 3 racks until noon and then they seem to go hunting. This is my 9th year landlording and last year I noticed (according to my notes) that birds were busy carrying nest material to the gourds beginning 20 March. None...

Hello to Phil in Ferdinando Beach - Thanks. Will give it a try soon. Mike

Hi to all, My response has nothing do to with "posting arrival " but with "pre-nesting." I have 3 racks of 24 gourds each. Last year (or maybe year before) I "pre-nested" half of my gourds and left the other half empty. Nesting success was 50-50. All said and done - the...