Purple Martin Identification

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bigwill1767
Posts: 56
Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:42 am
Location: Fruitdale, Al

Good day Everyone,
Need some help. I have 18 pm staying every night so far. 14 male and only 4 females. I dont know why so many more males than females. Anyway I am thankful they are here. I have been trying to get close enough to take some good pics for identification but they are still skittish of me. I can get closer than I could a week ago anyway.
Please took at the female pics at the link below. Are these females SY or ASY? (Im still new and learning) I want to know if these might be the same that fledged here last year.



http://s368.photobucket.com/albums/oo130/BigWill1767/


Thanks for your help in advance.
SEMPER FI
2014- 20 pair
2013- 9 pair
2012- 6 pair
2011- 3 pair
2010- 1 Pair
D'Nese
Posts: 450
Joined: Tue Jun 22, 2010 3:09 pm
Location: Unionville, TN

It looks like a female to me. One good way to check for SY males vs. ASY females is the SY males are doing alot of singing. That's the only way I can report SY arrivals.
Now SY females vs ASY females, that's a totally different ID problem. I still don't know LOL

:lol: 8) :roll:
D'Nese in Tennessee


2009-new house up, many visitors no one stayed
2010-3 pairs, 14 eggs, 9 babies 9 fledged
2011 20 pairs, 106 eggs, 79 fledged
2012 37 pair, 120 fledged
2013 37 pair, 173 fledged
dsonyay
Posts: 1677
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 3:10 pm
Location: Louisiana/Broussard
Martin Colony History: 2010-2014 located in Slidell LA. Gourd rack with 16 gourds. Max of 2 pairs during this short period in Slidell. Plenty of fledglings.

2014-present.. moved to Broussard LA. Same Gourd Rack but added a 6 room house (modified from a 12 room)

2020: after a long drought of nothing, 4 pairs and 4 nests, 23 eggs total.
6 fledges.

2021: 9 pair, 47 eggs
36 hatchlings
30 fledged

2022: about 12 pairs.. many eggs, all fledged.. only had one hatchling die.. probably because of our schnauzer. :(

2023: 16 pairs. So far about 60 chicks with about a dozen eggs to go.

2024: 13 pair. About 60 eggs
2025: 14 pairs .. 69 eggs.

Looks like a female to me. And I'm guessing an ASY female.
Laverne
Posts: 2216
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2004 1:58 pm
Location: TX/Alvin
Martin Colony History: Erected 1st house in 1997. Birds were checking it out before Mike got down from the ladder. Six cavities had a little colony 1st year. Grown to 88 cavities all gourds with near 100% occupancy. Most important factor for success is rain = bugs.

http://www.purplemartin.org/MartinID/martinid.html

The above link shows Purple Martins of different ages and sexes. You need to get pretty close to see the crissum of a PM female well enough to determine if she is an SY or ASY. I can't tell from your photos. Try again.

Let us know what you see... :roll:
Sincerely,
Laverne
bigwill1767
Posts: 56
Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:42 am
Location: Fruitdale, Al

This female has been here about a week. I think she is a sub-adult but I'm not sure. I don't want to post on scout report since I'm not sure. She is almost totally white on her underside. The other 3 females have the brown so I know they are adults. I will try to get better pictures
Attachments
Kevens Gourd Rack
Kevens Gourd Rack
Female (800x600).jpg (183.37 KiB) Viewed 3306 times
SEMPER FI
2014- 20 pair
2013- 9 pair
2012- 6 pair
2011- 3 pair
2010- 1 Pair
Tim Stover
Posts: 505
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:04 pm
Location: Tennesse/Madisonville

its gotta be a male subbie to report :shock: does look like a sy female believe it is :wink:
2009 2pair 2010 24pair 2011 106 pair
2012 124 pair
2013 145
2014 170 pair
+
bigwill1767
Posts: 56
Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:42 am
Location: Fruitdale, Al

Thanks Tim. I havnt reported any SY yet and didnt know was males only but I did just read that on the scout report page. Idk but seems strange to me that only 1 sy female would show up for past week. I thought the sy birds would come in groups
SEMPER FI
2014- 20 pair
2013- 9 pair
2012- 6 pair
2011- 3 pair
2010- 1 Pair
Tim Stover
Posts: 505
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:04 pm
Location: Tennesse/Madisonville

i have two here rite now i know they are subbies :roll: but what can we do you would think in studies they do they would wanna know how fast the subbies travel north behind the asy 8) i know a lot of people can't get them right but some could 5 more new ones today all asy birds
2009 2pair 2010 24pair 2011 106 pair
2012 124 pair
2013 145
2014 170 pair
+
dsonyay
Posts: 1677
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 3:10 pm
Location: Louisiana/Broussard
Martin Colony History: 2010-2014 located in Slidell LA. Gourd rack with 16 gourds. Max of 2 pairs during this short period in Slidell. Plenty of fledglings.

2014-present.. moved to Broussard LA. Same Gourd Rack but added a 6 room house (modified from a 12 room)

2020: after a long drought of nothing, 4 pairs and 4 nests, 23 eggs total.
6 fledges.

2021: 9 pair, 47 eggs
36 hatchlings
30 fledged

2022: about 12 pairs.. many eggs, all fledged.. only had one hatchling die.. probably because of our schnauzer. :(

2023: 16 pairs. So far about 60 chicks with about a dozen eggs to go.

2024: 13 pair. About 60 eggs
2025: 14 pairs .. 69 eggs.

bigwill- the last photo does appear to be an SY female. I'm getting good at IDing them now.... I have a fantastic set of binoculars to help me, along with plenty of good photos of martins to use for reference.

You're in Alabama, so it's definitely time to start seeing SYs. There's probably plenty more around.
Don Strickland
Posts: 430
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2010 4:38 pm
Location: Oklahoma/Shady Point

http://www.chuckspurplemartinpage.com/martins.htm

good close up pictures of ASY and SY.
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