Questions about Nest Building to Fledging

[Joe Zorn]

I once saw a chronological time line for the PM's nesting cycle, from next building to fledging, but can't locate it here on the forum now.

Can anyone tell me where that article is? Just to answer simple questions, like:
How many eggs? What time of day are they laid? One a day?
How long do the parents sit on the eggs before they start hatching?
Again, do they hatch one a day? How many days or weeks of growth till fledging.

Or maybe one of the experienced landlords can just fill me in.

No PM's here yet, so getting pretty dishearted, but the wife and I are watching an online audio/video stream of a gourd nest cam near Dallas. We discovered this morning that she has three eggs now. Keeps them covered when she's not there, but she pretty much has been sticking around.

Next best thing, I guess. Lots of fun.

Joe

[Mary Dawnsong]

Under the forum banner at the top of the page, click on the button Martin FAQ to find answers to basic questions like this.

Another good source of basic martin "life history" information is, of course, the PMCA website.
Click on the PMCA Home button.
On the PMCA home page, click on the Martin Biology tab.

[Dale Hrncirik]

Joe,

Would you please give us the link to the nest cam video stream? Thanks.

Dale

[Joe Zorn]

Mary, it took awhile, but I finally found it. I missed it the other day, I guess. Nothing under FAQ's but under Martin Biology, the following:

The pair-bond of the Purple Martin is monogamous. The male and female cooperate equally in building the nest out of mud, grass and twigs. The female lays two to seven pure-white eggs at a rate of one egg per day. The female incubates the clutch for approximately fifteen days, then the young hatch. The parents both feed the young continuously for a period of 26-32 days until the young fledge. The young continue to be dependent on their parents for food and training for an additional one to two weeks after fledging. It's not uncommon for the fledglings to return to their human-supplied housing at night to sleep during this period

Just what I was hoping for.

Joe