Purple Martin Forum

I misidentified the snake, as several folks suggested. It was a rat snake. I saw a 2' snake on the deck (8' off the ground) this morning and examined it closely after killing it. It was a baby, identical to the big one that was in the martin box. It clearly was a rat snake. Sorry for the misinformat...

I noticed that the birds left the colony earlier than usual this year. They usually stay around another 3-4 weeks. I hadn't done a nest check in awhile b/c I didn't want the fledglings to fledge prematurely. So, I did a nest check today. I found a 4 1/2' copperhead coiled in the back of one of the c...

Louise--

The photo of the bug didn't attach to my previous post b/c it was too large. Will try again.

Louise-- The bugs infesting my colony do not match anything in the article you attached to your reply. BUT, they look exactly like the swallow bugs (bed bugs?) that you mentioned. See http://bugguide.net/node/view/252639. I've attached the best picture I could take of the bugs--one bug on my hat. Al...

Had all cavities occupied (wooden T-14 and 4 Troyer gourds) July 4. Saw fledglings in the air and a couple on the ground the previous 2 weeks. Also saw a couple of fledglings dead at the foot of the pole. I noticed a couple of days after the 4th that there were no birds around--morning, noon, or eve...

Does the female need to copulate before she lays each egg, or does one copulation fertilize all her eggs, and she just lays them once a day?

How does all of this work?

Idle minds .....

I have a second year "colony" that is being harassed by a crested flycatcher. First year (last year) I had 6 nesting pairs, and this year there appear to be 3-5 pairs living in the T-14, but not nesting yet. The flycatcher harassed the martins this year for 2-3 days, but didn't drive them ...