How It All Started: HOSTING PURPLE MARTINS A Newbies Diary All my life, beginning in childhood, I ve been a bird lover. For the most part just your average backyard bird enthusiast. Placing bird feeders for wintering birds and hanging bird houses in Spring for the nesting season. Like most backyard bird lovers I ve studied field guides, subscribed to bird magazines, and watched nature shows. Along the way I ve learned a great deal about the birds in my backyard. I ll admit my primary interest has always been the birds in my own yard. Living in Kansas I ve not had a lot of interest in Puffins or species only found in a single tree along the Amazon river. Don t get me wrong, I ll watch a nature show about them, I m just not going to do a lot of research on my own time. What About Martins My knowledge regarding Purple Martins was and still is somewhat limited. I had a general idea about what it takes to get Martins to nest, but it took me three years to make it happen. You see, my yard was never Purple Martin friendly. Trees were a big issue. I knew that you had to have wide open spaces to attract them to nest. Water was another issue. Of course, I thought you had to have a pond or live lakeside to get Martins interested in your housing. Not having either of these things I believed it would be fruitless to try and attract Purple Martins. So I never tried. What Changed Like many others, I spend a great deal of time outside in my yard. I enjoy working in the yard and spending as much time as I can in a lawn chair.
One day while sitting in my favorite lawn chair enjoying a beverage I noticed something, Open Space! You see, a couple of years earlier we had a terrible ice storm. The storm had knocked out power due to trees falling on the power line. Because the trees had fallen, work crews came and cut tree after tree out. Now I had noticed that after the trees had been cut I had more sunshine for my vegetable garden, but I hadn t notice the open sky space that would allow me an opportunity to attract Purple Martins. The Obsession Begins I now believed I had the bare minimum to try and attract Purple Martins. I was ready to get started. I went out to my local Orschlen Farm store and bought a house, pole, and a ground socket. Everything needed to start hosting Purple Martins. I dug a hole, set my ground socket in concrete, and placed my new Purple Martin house on the pole, raised the pole and waited. And waited, until... Season one ended. I lowered the house for the winter. Year two, the same thing. The only interest in the house was from House Sparrows. I kept removing their nest until even they left. Season Three (3) During the off season I began learning more about attracting Purple Martins. I begin to visit and lurk around some of the internet forums on Martins. I had not added gourds under the house as of yet. I hadn t seen any in my area so I didn t add any. Later I found several landlords using gourds. Tip: don t assume it won t or isn t happening in your area. I learned about the scout reports and begin waiting for Purple Martins to arrive in my area. In the meantime I learned about adding decoy Martins and playing a recording of the Purple Martin Dawnsong. In late March I raised
my setup with all the new things added that I had learned about during the winter. Here It Is! Third Season Set Up, Tree in Back 50 Feet Away My third season begins with my little six room house and four Big Bo Gourds. Fifteen feet in the air. I added two decoys, one on each side of the house. They say to move the decoys from time to time but I lost interest in doing that pretty quickly. I begin playing the Dawnsong CD every morning beginning around 5:30 AM. It sounds louder at that time in the morning than any other time since it s so quite outside. I m trying to be respectful to my neighbors but my obsession is taking over. As the season progresses I begin playing the Dawnsong CD in the morning before work and for an hour and a half in the late afternoon when I get home from work. I m beginning to see Purple Martins fly overhead. Then, one day, a Purple Martin lands on my housing. I have to tell you, I was about as excited as you can get. I never knew that one bird could have that big of an impact on me. I ve had plenty of birds nest in bird houses and shrubs around my house. There was just something special about attracting a Purple Martin. And this bird wasn t even building a nest!
Subadult Martin On Top Of House This particular Subadult male continues to visit throughout the season and so do others, all the way through August. I believe but have no proof, that this is the ASY that comes back to begin my first year of hosting Purple Martins. He was the only Purple Martin that landed on and checked out all the housing and gourds. Armed with this success, I m confident that my in my fourth year I ll be hosting Purple Martins. So I begin getting ready in late winter with new housing. Here is the day by day story of a newbie (me) and his (my) first year of hosting Purple Martins.
The Set Up The new Purple Martin Set up consist of two S&K Best Houses converted from twelve compartments each house to six enlarged compartments per house. All openings on houses are Starling Resistant Entrance Holes call Crescents. Underneath the houses are six gourds. Four gourds are Big Bo s and two end gourds are Combo Plus gourds. All six gourds have tunnels with Starling Resistant Entrance Holes called Clingers. All gourds are also from S&K Manufacturing. The pole is called an EZ-Lift Pole. It has a 2 3/8 inch outside diameter and consist of four sections, giving the house and gourds a 14 foot overall height. This pole uses a rope, pulley, and weight system for raising and lowering. Each compartment is pre-nested with a handful of white pine needles. I ve also place a decoy bird on top of one of the houses. You can see the decoy in
the above picture. It s on top of the house on the left. This is the beginning of my fourth year of trying to attract Purple Martins but it is really my second year of being serious by reading and learning the previous year. This year it worked. I attracted my first pair. Here s the story. WEEK 1 ASY Male Checking Out A Big Bo Gourd I ve had my housing up since the first Martins returned to local established colonies. Late March is when the older Purple Martins return here in East Central Kansas. So For about a month there has been no activity around my housing, with the exception of House Sparrows. Saturday April 26 - While mowing my yard I notice that an ASY male has arrived at the new set up. I watch as he checks out nearly every available compartment. Only takes a few serious attempts before he figures out the Clinger Entrance - This begins season 4 and I m so excited. Sunday April 27 Same ASY male has returned. He has brought an ASY female. He shows her how to go in and out of the west facing Combo Plus gourd with a clinger tunnel entry.
Male returns that same Sunday night without female and spends the night. This is the first time I've had a martin stay overnight. Monday April 28 I am at work during the day, saw male leave in the morning and watched him returned and stay for the night, came in around 7:50 PM. Tuesday April 29 morning. - I can see the male poking his head out of the gourd and there is another ASY male on the power line. After getting ready for work (shower, shave, etc.) I look out and there are 3 ASY males and 1 ASY female. The male that has claimed a gourd is showing them how to go in and out. They all stayed awhile and now have left. A few minutes later I see the original ASY male carrying nest material in while the ASY female watches from the power line, it's 8:15 AM. I have to leave for work. April 29 evening - I watched the ASY male bring an ASY female to the gourd tonight. Both went in, I was hoping for the night, but after about two minutes they both came out a flew away. I do not believe either returned. I watched closely until I could no longer see due to darkness. Wednesday April 30 morning. - I see the ASY male on the power line with an ASY female. He has shown her how to enter the gourd. While he sits on the porch she flies away. Of course, he follows. He has returned a couple of times this morning alone. He has left now to feed and to find a female I presume. April 30 evening - Saw ASY male in gourd for awhile around 7:00-7:20 PM. He left for awhile and returned for the night around 8:10pm. Still alone. Thursday May 1 morning - ASY male is here on the power line and going in the gourd. Not much else going on. May 1 evening - Thunderstorms predicted so I do some house maintenance around 5:00PM. My ASY male and an ASY female are squawking while I hurry with what I have to do. I move the ladder back where it belongs and the ASY male comes to inspect his gourd. I quickly get inside and watch as the female also goes inside. They stay but a short time and leave.
After a couple of not so bad storms roll through the ASY male shows up around 8:10PM and flies straight to his gourd, but he stays just about 10 minutes then leaves. I watch until 8:45PM and do not see him return. He may not be staying, it is quite dark. I feel a little disappointed and am a bit anxious for a pair to begin staying all night together. ASY Male On Porch Of Chosen Gourd Friday May 2 morning - Decided to see if male came back or not. I start watching his chosen gourd at 6:30 AM. ASY male shows up about 6:50AM. He flies to his gourd, stays about 1 minute, then heads for the power line to preen. Thunderstorms came through around 1:00AM this morning. Weather is supposed to be cloudy and windy, high around 60 degrees. May 2 evening - Around the 6:00 hour the ASY male is at his gourd while a female (can't tell if ASY or SY) is checking out other gourds. She eventually gets back to his and enters. Both stay inside for several minutes before flying away. ASY male returns around 8:00PM and enters his gourd although he briefly landed on a gourd beside his claimed one. He stays just a minute and flies off. ASY male returns at 8:30PM, I watch for about 10 minutes. I stop watching so that I can tell myself he is there for the night. Tomorrow is Saturday so I'll have more time to watch and worry. Saturday May 3 morning - Windy and cool low 40s. ASY male is here. I
heard him chirping a bit loud, looked out and he flew out after others. 2 ASY males and 1 ASY female came back to the site, looked around and then they all flew off. Shortly thereafter the ASY male returned to his gourd for awhile. This was between the hours of 7:30AM - 8:30AM. My ASY male has now taken off. Mid-Afternoon - While mowing the lawn ASY male flies around, female is flying high above but does not land. Male stays on power line but squawks a lot while I'm mowing. See him go after a hawk. Quite for now, no martins around. May 3 evening - ASY male arrives like he has been, flies to his gourd, stays a couple of minutes and then leaves. He returns a little latter and does the same thing, 2 minutes then gone. I do not think he is returning for the entire night. ------------ WEEKLY SUMMARY It has been a full week of the same behavior. The male brings females to his gourd, they look around and so far all have left. This happens throughout the day. Sometimes he brings a female toward the evening. The female will enter and stay just a few minutes then she will leave. The male usually follows after the female. Ten or fifteen minutes later he will return alone. Sometimes he spends the night, other times, he stays a few minutes then leaves. I don't think he stays on these occasions but I can't be sure because it is too dark to see and I stop watching. ------------------------ WEEK 2 Sunday May 4 morning - The day starts out cool, but a cloudless sunny day. The ASY male is out on the power line preening and stretching. taking time to fly down to his Combo Plus gourd. He seems to be quite committed to this gourd. Since I mowed yesterday I'm giving him his space and watching from inside for the most part. There is a persistent bull sparrow who flies to the house each time my ASY male does. The trap is out and I keep one bull in the trap to attract others. I hope I get this one soon.
Mid-Afternoon - The ASY male has been bringing a female/females to his place several times today. I can't tell for sure but they look like SY's but I'm not sure. This female or set of females seem more inclined to stay a little longer, not real long mind you, but longer than the ones I think were ASY females. May 4 evening - ASY male arrives with female around 7:50PM. She eventually follows him into the gourd. This has happened before so I'm not holding my breath. She comes out on the porch after a few minutes inside, I'm thinking she will fly away but she goes back inside. She comes back out after a couple more minutes and now I'm sure she'll fly away but much to my surprise, she went back inside. I continued watching for about 20 more minutes - until 8:30PM. I believe she is staying the night as I did not see her come out again. I'll see if they both are here in the morning. Monday May 5 morning - This morning is warmer and cloudy, Great news! Both male and female are here this morning sitting on the gourd porch and going in and out. There is another ASY female on the power line. I think I spooked her looking out of the patio door. Subadult Female The male is picking leaves off a tree about 60 feet away and bringing them into the gourd while his SY female watches perched on the power line. Soon enough, they fly off and I go to work. May 5 evening - I tried sitting outside to watch but it seemed to keep the
pair from landing on the gourd. So after watching them come and go a couple of times, I went inside. Seems to be hawks flying over from time to time. The bull sparrow has been chirping while sitting on the house for the whole day. Can't seem to trap him and I can't shoot in this area. About 8:00pm both the male and female come in for the night. First the female, then the male quickly follows. I wasn't watching too close, but I'm assuming they are staying the night. I'll try to see in the morning. I have to leave early. Tuesday May 6 morning - Both ASY male and SY female are here this morning. I was home during the day and saw them come by a couple of times but they seem skittish if they see me or the neighbor children playing. May 6 evening - ASY male flies into the gourd while SY female sits on power line watching the gourd and surroundings. She appears skittish from the earlier fly bys. At about 7:40pm SY female flies into gourd. Not sure, but think it was 10-15 minutes after the male went inside. Normally the ASY male will fly into the gourd and if she doesn't follow quickly he comes out and vocalizes until she comes inside. Tonight he just stayed inside. Three nights in a row they have stayed the night. Wednesday May 7 morning - Both are here this morning. It's cloudy with scattered showers predicted. They were a little late in exiting the gourd today, maybe weather related. May 7 evening - Thought I would sit outside about 30 feet from the housing and watch. Normally I'm inside watching through a set of sliding patio doors. At about 7:20pm both birds circle the housing and me. They land on the power line watching me and looking at their gourd. Soon enough, they fly to and inside the gourd. After a few minutes they both leave. At 8:10pm after flying in circles above me and the housing they both enter into the gourd, but not before the female lands on the wrong gourd first. She makes another circle and goes in, I believe they are done for the day. -------------- {Sidebar} I've noticed other martins flying high in the air over the housing in the early evening. I seem to recall reading that females prefer others around, maybe they feel more protected. I'm thinking the female hears these
other martins and goes after them. Just a thought as to why she initiates leaving after they come in for the evening. ----------------------- Thursday May 8 morning - A cool but sunny start, the ASY male is on the power line directly in front of the chosen gourd. The SY female is sitting on the porch. It seems the male has more confidence in leaving the gourd while the female is still there. Before, he would stay as long as she stayed. I'm watching from inside my house, the male is bringing leaves and passing them to his mate. She takes the leaves inside and arranges them. I lowered the housing yesterday and saw the green leaves. I wish I had placed more pine needles inside my housing. They had push it away and I could see the Combo Plus s black liner. They were placing the leaves in the back right side. Time for me to go. May 8 evening - Watched until both came in tonight at about 8:00PM. Didn't see anything earlier. Friday May 9 morning - Went out early to do some maintenance on the sparrow trap around 6:30am. I spooked the female and she went flying off, then it began to rain. The rain stopped before I left for work and the male was bringing leaves into the gourd and the female was flying overhead. May 9 evening - It looked like the SY female was first in the gourd tonight and the male waited another 15 minutes before coming in for the night. 8:10 and 8:25pm respectively. Tomorrow is Saturday so I'll have time to watch in the morning although it is supposed to rain. Saturday May 10 morning - Cloudy with rain and possible thunderstorms. 7:15am the ASY male is on the power line watching the SY female sit on the porch. They begin flying around and bringing in green leaves. This is the first time I've seen the female participate in gathering any leaves. Usually she either watches the male or takes them from him and brings them inside. I worried that they were spending time gathering leaves when they should be feeding as the weather may get bad. Most of the day was just fine, guess they knew best. I checked the nest today but there were no eggs. I saw some of the green
leaves they've brought inside. I did not feel around as I didn't want to disturb things. They don't seem to be bringing anything but leaves. It seems the nest could use more pine needles than just what I put inside. May 10 evening - wind is beginning to gust pretty good, about 8:05pm I see the female coming home for the night. Strangely enough she lands on a gourd facing north and goes partially in before squawking and heading to the next gourd (facing east) briefly, then the next (south facing) before locating her own west facing gourd. I don't know if it was the gusty winds or what that caused her to go to the wrong gourd initially. I watch for a half hour but did not see the male come in. He may have been inside already as I did not start watching until about 8:00pm. I'm not too concerned, if the female is here, can the male be far off? I think he's inside. ----------------------- I have now had martins for two weeks. First the male was here for a week trying to entice a female to stay. Week 2 begins with the ASY male getting a female to stay for the entire week. Both have been adding green leaves to the gourd. The male was not only successful at finding a mate but was also able to convince her his gourd was the gourd of choice. The Gourd is a Combo Plus with a tunnel added that has a Clinger entrance. For me this answers a couple of questions. A new colony can be started by an ASY male and SREH can be used from the start. I know of no one that is using a Clinger entrance locally. --------------------------- WEEK 3 Sunday May 11 morning - Sunny, cool and very windy. The pair are staying in their gourd a little later than usual today. I've walked around where they could see me. They have been on the power line and the porch of the gourd. They're a little skittish with me around so I'm going back inside. They stay around until about 10:00am before taking off to feed some. They make a couple of return trips but eventually leave to feed for the day. May 11 evening - Almost like clockwork they come in for the night. I used to have to watch from about 7:00pm until 8:30pm but now I begin watching about 7:50PM. The female seems to arrive around 8:10PM and the male comes in around 8:30PM. I suppose these times will change as the season progresses.
May 12 morning - It's sunny and windy. I walked outside while the male was on the power line and the female was on the porch. Both watched me but I notice the female was edgy so I went inside. The female flew up to the male on the power line. I watched as both the male and female flew to a tree about 125 feet straight west of their gourd. You could see them in the treetop pulling leaves, then they would glide back to the gourd. Now I had seen this before but what made today special was seeing the female fly down to the ground in my garden area and pick up material for the nest. THIS WAS REAL NEST BUILDING! I couldn't tell what type of material she was picking up but it wasn't just green leaves. Can egg laying be far behind. I'll do a nest check this weekend weather permitting. May 12 evening - Same as evening before, female first then the male came in. I had to chase a neighbors cat away because both martins and the robins nesting nearby were squawking. The robins have just fledged their babies and the young robins are in the shrubs where cats could get at them. The cat ran home. May 13 morning - I went out this morning to try and spend some time around the birds to allow them to get familiar with me as I read to do. One of my neighbors started running a weed eater at 8:00am! This frightened the birds so they were quite skittish with me there also. I decided it was best to go inside. They did bring in a couple of leaves before I stopped watching. May 13 evening - Both birds came in tonight close to the same time. The female went in at 8:12pm and male followed just a couple of minutes later instead of the 15 to 20 that he has been doing. I suspect they are getting serious. May 14-15 - Nest building seems the priority in the morning. Sticks and leaves are being brought in primarily by the female although the male brings in some leaves. The male keeps a watch on the female for their safety. Evenings seem to be about the same, although the female came in around 7:45pm with the male coming in after 8:00pm. So I'll have to begin watching earlier. When they do come in they no longer make another run, it seems they come in once and stay the night.
May 16 morning - Nest building continues. I'm trying to spend some time each morning, before work, sitting and hopefully letting them get comfortable with me outside. May 16 evening - I sat outside until they came in for the night. They seem a little bit hesitant, make passes and sitting on the wire. At 8:18pm they both flew in one after the other. ASY Male on Power Line May 17 morning - Since it's Saturday I had time to sit outside and watch. For the most part they were alright with me there. They may have been a little more cautious but it seem they settled in. I watched as the female brought in nesting material. Each time she flew off the male would follow. When she returned the male also return but the interesting part is, each time she disappeared inside the gourd, the male would vocalize from the power line. This suggest to me that he is letting her know that he is right outside keeping guard over things. I had not read of this behavior. I wonder if at larger colonies there is so much more going on that it may be difficult to notice subtle behaviors. Around 10:00am I was mowing in the front yard when I notice an extra pair flying with my pair. They did not stay or land and were here only a minute. I
hope this bodes well for my colonies future. Nest building Has Begun I was able to lower the gourd and take a peek at the nest. I took the picture while I had it down. They ve added an considerable amount of material to the nest. Notice the gray sticks. The brown pine needles are what I added at the beginning of the season. ----------------- WEEK 4 Sunday May 18 morning - Sat outside this morning watching the nest building process. Seem to be pretty busy today. Trips were going faster with less arranging time inside the gourd although there was some lengthy stays inside. May 18 evening - Both came in shortly after 8:00pm maybe 8:15pm I didn't check. The male came back out and sat on the porch just watching everything. Stayed between 5 and 10 minutes before turning around and going back inside for the night. May 19 morning - Nest building and me trying to get closer. I frightened the female by getting too close so she squawked and flew away with the male following. I left for work. May 19 evening - Sparrow got into a trap I had set for him. Did not catch him but half a dozen feathers were in the trap. I lowered the housing to remove trap, upon raising things back up my martin pair flew over. Both
came in tonight around 8:10pm. The male once again spent some time on the gourd porch before going in for the night. I did eventually get the House Sparrow. May 20 morning - Both were sitting on the power line and not nest building. At least they didn't seem to be in any hurry. I watched as the male copulated with the female. Egg laying might begin this week. My Purple Martin Pair Perching On Power Line May 20 evening - Female came in a little earlier around 7:40PM. The male flew around the site but fairly high up until around 8:10PM. May 21 morning - Both came out and were again on the power line. The female has gone back inside. I did see the male bring in a green leaf. I think she is near or already laying eggs. I'll check this weekend provided the weather is alright. May 21 evening - Male once again escorted female in while he went back out and didn't come in until almost 9:00PM. May 22 morning - There were 3 Purple Martins on the power line when I looked out this morning. It had rained most of the night and was still raining lightly this morning. I could not tell whether the new martin was an SYF or
a SYM. due to the rain, cloudiness, and my lack of experience. They flew around together, (my pair and the new one) the visiting Martin did not stay. May 22 evening - My pair came in tonight without bringing home the new Martin. Hope I'm able to get more as it would be encouraging for next season. I'm hoping this pair makes it through this season. House Sparrows are still a nuisance. Trying to keep them at bay. May 23 morning - My pair is hanging around and the female is staying in the gourd a little longer. Male brings in a couple of green leaves. May 23 evening - Got home and decided to try a new idea for getting the sparrow that is hanging around. Don't know that it will work though. Since I lowered the housing I took a peek inside the gourd, THERE'S AN EGG! My First Purple Martin Egg Now I've got to worry about keeping the eggs safe. The female flew over me as I raised the housing. This was about 5:30PM. Female came in around 8:00PM the male kept flying until about 8:45PM. May 24 morning - Thunderstorms throughout the night and raining off and on this morning. Male has been out and the female is staying inside longer, hopefully more eggs. Since it is Saturday I've been able to watch more through the day. In my effort to minimally disturb the nesting pair I try to go out while they are feeding. Each time I try, it seems they have one eye on the nesting cavity
at all times. Today while mowing they brought a third martin around. They all circled several times before leaving. I never know whether it's my presence or just a naturally occurring behavior. No extra Martins come back to spend the night, only my pair. (I m still thankful) May 24 evening - It seems the later the sun sets the later they come in for the night. The male escorts the female in around 8:30pm and then continues flying around until 9:00pm. I do not know if this later time is because I'm sitting within 20 feet or not. ------------------------------ WEEK 5 And 6 Sunday May 25 morning - Wow, a month has passed, you would think I would just relax and have fun with the martin pair instead of worrying about all the dangers around for them. (Sparrows, hawks, owls, etc.) even me! Today I placed some short pieces of board on the porches on the back side of the two houses above the gourds. I did this to make the House Sparrow that is coming around think there is a trap. One thing I've noticed about the House Sparrow is that it is a very cautious bird. If it sees any changes it stays away for awhile. Not forever, but for a little while. Sometimes they stay away for a couple of days. The problem placing the boards on the porches was that I didn't know my SY female was still in the gourd, it was 8:30am. I frightened her off the nest but she went back in within a half hour. If I'm not careful, I'M THE ONE that's going to run them off! A chance of thunderstorms is in the forecast and it is cloudy and humid. Sunday Afternoon May 25 - I m working right under the housing as my vegetable garden is just 4 feet from the pole. There was some squawking. It seems there is never a good time to be around the pole. They both watched as I planted pole beans, peppers, and did some weeding. They sat on the power line and watched. The male landed on the gourds porch and peeked inside to check on things. He did not go in while I was so close. Eventually they flew off. I finished up and came inside.
Sunday Late Afternoon/Evening - Today I was able to witness a behavior that is common to seasoned Purple Martin landlords, but I had never seen. The ASY male was dropping a leaf over and over catching it each time. Finally just letting it go. He did this over the top of my house while I sat watching. Both birds came in tonight. The female around 8:10pm and the male closer to 9:00pm May 26 Morning - It's Memorial Day so I'm home and able to watch. This morning it is raining and although it slows between rounds there is little going on. I saw the male on the power line but not much else happening so I ran errands. This afternoon around 1:30pm I decided to see if there were now 4 eggs since Friday the first egg was laid. The male was in the gourd but flew away when I got close. I lowered the houses and gourds and checked on the nest. There are 6 EGGS! Six Purple Martin Eggs, Yes, There Really Are Six I just don't know how I could've missed 2 eggs on Friday. There's no way she laid more than 1 egg a day. So somehow I missed a couple of eggs. Of course I didn't disturb the nest on Friday. I'm afraid to move nesting material around and cause the martins to think their nest has been invaded. (I later enlarged the photo of what I thought was a single egg and noticed two eggs were hidden under the leaves. If you go back to the previous
picture you ll see just below the gray stick there is some white. Yep, that s one I missed. You got to love the digital age.) It seems they are incubating the eggs as one or the other stays with the eggs for the most part. I'll have to watch more closely. May 26 evening - The female came in after 8:00pm. I didn't see the male come in but I wasn't paying attention. There is a tree in the background which makes it difficult to see the later it gets, and the male is coming in around 9:00pm and quickly goes in. If I look away for a second, he can sweep right in. May 27 morning - The pair is staying around a little more in the morning with the female staying inside longer. May 27 evening - I'm noticing the pair is coming back and checking on things during the late afternoon when I get home. They still are leaving and feeding I suppose, but they make more frequent checks on the gourd. May 28 - June 9 - Incubation is going on. while the female is the one actually incubating, the male guards the nest when she takes breaks for feeding and drinking. They both seem to pant while sitting on the porch before leaving. Temps are in mid 80's. I have no idea how warm it is inside the gourd. They still don't like me too close but are alright for the most part if I'm 15-20 feet away. I've been under the housing doing gardening. They are very hesitant to go inside. If I just kneel and pull weeds quietly she will eventually go inside. If I were to stand or move quickly both birds are likely to fly away or stay on the power line and watch me. Since the birds are here most of the time I'm reluctant to lower the housing and do a nest check. I'll have to soon enough, but for now I know there are eggs being incubated. This process of incubation is the least active so far. Occasionally green leaves are brought in by the male. The female may bring leaves also, I just haven't seen her bring leaves.
WEEK 7 And 8 June 10 evening - This is the first day that the young should hatch. I wasn't going to do a nest check until tomorrow but I found an eggshell on the ground where I was working on the phone line. It looked to be the size of a Purple Martin egg and was white. I lowered the housing and peeked inside, I've got babies! I tried counting quickly as the adults were a little unhappy. I think I saw five. They are huddled closely together and I wanted to get the house back up as it was after 7:00PM. I'll check again Sunday afternoon. There was an eggshell in the middle of the clutch but I couldn't see where a young was trying to get out. I hope all six eggs hatch. I'll try to take a little more time Sunday and get a picture. The babies were so tiny I believe they just hatched today or yesterday. There are six! so all eggs have hatched. Now I'll begin my nest checks every 5 days or so as I can. I didn't get a picture because momma bird just doesn't like me. Five Day Old Baby Martins June 15 Afternoon. Other than offering photos as they develop there really isn't much to tell other than it's really enjoyable watching the adults feeding so often. The male tolerates me much better than the female. Just when it seems no Purple Martins are around and I lower the housing, here they come. The female dives toward me and lets out a loud squawk, not unlike a crow sound.
10 Day Old Hatchlings June 20 afternoon. Here is a picture of what I believe to be 10 day old chicks. Both adults are feeding continuously. Neither seems to be doing any more work than the other which gives me hope that all six will be well fed. Weather has been just about right. Just enough rain to hatch out insects but not so much to cause worry. Temps have been more moderate than summers past. Normally it's in the 90's in late June but it's been in the mid 80's. 15 Day Old Hatchlings June 25 afternoon - Here is the latest picture of what I believe to be 15 day old hatchlings. New Sub Adult birds are beginning to show up. I know that other Martins show up when the young fledge but these little birds are still at least 12 days from leaving the nest. I'll have to check to see if this is
common. The other SY's don't seem to be wanting to nest. WEEK 9 And 10 21 or 22 Day Old Hatchlings Just Days From Fledging June 29 afternoon - This is the last time I'm checking this nest. The female is going crazy whenever I'm near the housing, let alone when I lower it down. Other birds (Martins) are showing up more and more. June 30 - July 4 - While my resident pair continue to feed their six babies, other Purple Martins are hanging around and poking their heads into all the compartments. None are entering the gourds or the houses, just looking around and making a racket. If I'm outside or even inside near the sliding doors the resident SY female will dive towards me. The male doesn't seem to mind me being around and the visitors seem like they couldn't care less. These other visitors are here all times of the day. While it seems to be mostly SY males, there have been a couple of ASY males. There may have been an SY female or two but no ASY females, to my knowledge anyway.
A Few Visitors Watching From Power Line July -5 My resident pair should finish up by July 8th but that would only be the 28 day mark. Whether the young leave the nest a day or two sooner only time will tell. I've never been sure that they weren't at least a day older. They could leave later but I've read that 75% leave within the 28 day mark. July 5 - Just after saying there were no ASY females coming around, this morning (July 5th) I see a couple. There seems to be about 6 to 7 birds around trying to coax the young birds out or it could be SY males trying to harass the babies. This morning (July 8) I believe I saw one young fledge. It was guided by two others to a nearby tree as I've read is often the case. Since several birds fly down to the gourd it's difficult to tell how many fly away. The gourd does face away from where I can see. July 8 Evening - It looks like The resident male has returned tonight with two (2) fledglings. July 9 Morning - Seems to be several birds around this morning but I'm having a hard time telling whether they are visitors or my fledglings. I'm a bit disappointed in that I don't really know how many have fledged. My last nest check showed all birds doing alright. The picture shows five but one may be under the others. That nest check was the last day of June. (June 30th) That's nine (9) days ago. I hope I can tell tonight if they come back. July 9 Evening - Well they did come in tonight. I can't tell how many for sure but at least 5 of the six have made it out and back. As they came in
tonight, 3 or 4 flew to the gourd at one time and went inside. Later the ASY male brought another to the gourd. A few minutes (2-3 min.) the ASY male brought in another of his reluctant to stop playing children inside. So I'm thinking 5 for sure which is great for a first time mom. After all the young were inside, both the male and female continued making feeding trips for their young. Sometimes the adults would just land and feed whoever was in the entrance and other times the adults would go inside to feed the less aggressive young. By 9:00PM everything had stopped and I don't think the adults went inside. One or the other adult may have gone inside but I didn't see it happen. July 11 Evening - Tonight I decided to sit outside and watch as it was a Friday and I could let things go inside. Soon after 8:00PM the family began circling the sky above the housing. The young would follow the adults. The young began coming down one by one and landing on the power line. All at once 4 swooped down and went into their gourd. A couple of minutes later the adult male brought another young one inside. Now there were five (5). It took a good 15 minutes of watching before the final young one was brought in by the adult male. I now know all six (6) have fledged successfully. The ASY male continued to bring food to the young for about 10 more minutes before flying away. It became dark and I went inside. So glad to know all the babies have made it out alright. July 12 Evening - About the same as last night except they all went in one after the other. I don't think the adults are staying with the young but I can't be sure since it happens so quick. I'm pretty sure the male goes to a roost but I don't know about the female. July 13 Mid-Morning - I looked out this morning around 7:30AM and didn't see any activity around the housing. I really don't know how early they head out to feed. About 9:30AM I could hear Martins from inside the house. There were about 6-8 Purple Martins circling and landing on the gourds. I Saw two (2) ASY males and the rest were SY's and possibly HY's. I guess these visitors are just looking at the housing. They were primarily checking
out the gourds. It seems that most of the visitors may have been gourd raised. For the most part these visitors ignore the two houses. These visitors hung around for about 40 minutes. Sometimes it would seem as if they were leaving for the day only to return within a couple of minutes. I'm thinking, mid-day I'll lower the housing and have a look see. Empty Nest With Brown Decaying Nesting Material July 13 Evening - I lowered the housing and have to say, egad! The odor is not one I would like to sleep in but I guess my sense of smell is a little better than theirs. I know there is much controversy over the use of Sevin but I lifted the nest and added an 1/8 of a teaspoon. Since six grown birds are spending the night I thought it might be helpful as I could not tell what may be living in that foul nest. Changing out the nest may have been a better idea. July 14 Morning - Visitors are showing up regularly. I counted nine (9) on the power line. A couple of ASY males and what appears to be HY's and SY's. I just hope some of these birds decide to return next year. HY s take off with the adult male. I'm beginning to think the season is
coming to an end as it seems they'll all be roosting with the adults soon. It's been 5-6 days since the young fledged so they very well could be on their last nights coming home. July 15 Morning - It seems that the ASY male shows up in the morning to wake the young up. I don't see the young come out before I leave but the male sings for awhile in front of the gourd and then leaves. I don't know if he keeps coming back until they come out or if they just come out on their own a little later. I would have to be around to see. July 15 Evening - Three (3) young returned to the gourd tonight. It was fun to watch as they would fly close to the gourd but not want to go inside. It was as if they were trying to keep from having to go to bed but really didn't have a choice. I can't be sure if it were three young or two young and the SY female, it was too dark to tell. By the way they acted (flying to the gourd and not going inside) made me think they were all HY's. July 16 Morning - I guess they left the gourd before I had a chance to look outside as I didn t see any of the young. July 16 Evening - I didn t see any return tonight but I wasn t around to watch closely. I ll have to check in the morning. July 17 Morning - 6:00AM - There is one HY sitting on the porch of the gourd watching other birds (different species) fly by. He leaves within a minute of me watching. July 17 Evening - From this night on I do not see the young come back. I do see Purple Martins flying over from time to time but by the end of the month it is a rare thing to see any Purple Martins. It seems my season is officially over. ----------------------------------------------------- Summary: By the end of August I ve lowered my housing and already I m thinking about next season. I can honestly say that hosting even a single pair of Purple Martins is unlike any other bird watching experience.
The only other thing that maybe comes close is managing Bluebirds. What makes hosting Purple Martins so special is the hands on experience. Of all of our backyard birds Martins are actually in our backyards nearly the whole season. Considering they only raise a single brood for the most part, that s quite a longtime. From the time when my first Purple Martin arrived until the last baby was seen on the gourd covered almost 12 weeks. Most backyard birds are around for 5 weeks. A few days of nest building, about 2 weeks incubating and another 2 weeks of raising young and then they re gone. Sometimes there is a second or third brood but you don t get to be involved with these backyard birds. From reading my diary you can tell I was always concerned about causing my one and only pair to abandon their nest. This is due to my knowledge and experience with other backyard birds. Too much intrusion and you ll have no birds to watch. I had read plenty from experienced landlords. They all said to get involved. Still, I found it difficult with just a single pair. I look forward to having more birds and believe I ll worry less at that time. But until then I hope my pair makes it safely to Brazil and back to my little backyard in Kansas next March.