My new tenants

[MichelleB]

Hello, I am new to this forum.
This past March, (2014) I installed a pole with six Troyer gourds. (with porches).

There is a 'wild' colony of Purple Martins in my neighborhood. They live about half a mile as the martin flies from my home.
I say wild because about a dozen PUMA boxes were installed five years ago at a wildlife preserve behind my home, and PUMA's have been flying about since then. No one monitors the boxes in the preserve although every year, someone (usually my husband) volunteers to climb up an orchard ladder and cleans them out. As far as I can tell, there are about six pairs of breeding Martins on the preserve.

I hoped to entice some to come stay at our place. We had martins nesting in my backyard when I was a kid growing up in Michigan, so I knew the species well.

The scouts arrived on 16 April 14 and promptly took possession of their homes from last year. They flew to my place and looked at the gourds but weren't interested.
However, on 1 June 14, three Purple Martins: two SY males and a SY female, showed up and really liked the gourds, even though there's no one in my area that has gourds.

Now the female is sitting on eggs, the second male is just hanging around but all three are still here.

In an effort to entice the birds, I played the "Dawn Song" CD I recieved when I bought the gourds. But, to my ear, the CD doesn't sound quite like 'my' population of PUMAs. I attribute that to the possibility that the CD is of Eastern PUMAs, and Western PUMAs are just slightly different (I believe).

I'm sure 'my' birds are here to stay (well, for the summer). They are very protective of their gourds. We have many raptors in my area, to include Cooper's Hawks, (and yes, I do love them, all of them) and the male PUMAs are usually the first ones to attack a raptor!

A little information: I live south of Olympia, WA, not far from the Black River. I currently have over 35 bird boxes up, and with the PUMA's deciding to stay, have FIVE species of swallows living here: Violet-Green, Tree, Cliff, Barn, and now Purple Martins.

[bwenger]

Michelle,

Congratulations on your martins and welcome to the Forum.

This is a good start and we hope that you will get even more martins returning next year.

Bill

[Tim Mangan-Kansas]

Michelle:

Always nice to read about new martin landlords from the Northwest. Hope your season goes well.

I can't be certain from your picture but it appears two of the martins in your picture might be banded.

Tim