2016 Purple Martin Season 3

I no more than open my mouth and the feuding has begun.  Upon hearing a ruckus in the area of my gourd racks I found two SY males and one SY female battling it out over a particular gourd.

It got pretty nasty at one point when both males went after the female.  This is only one of the many fights that are more than likely to occur. 

My main concern though is whether or not the SY males are going to do any harm to the now present eggs of the adults or to the future nestlings.

2016 Purple Martin Season 2

Performed a nest check today and found the first eggs of the season.  Eight in total from three different nests.  There are seven other nests that were empty and about four partial nests.  Looks like the season is getting off to a good start.  I'm also seeing a total of three SY (second year) or "subadult" males hanging around.  This is unusual since in the past I might see one maybe two at my colony, but not this many right at the beginning of the season.  They usually show up later.

In the past I've had lone SY bachelor males actually build a nest along with the adults in the colony.  Naturally there were no eggs since it had no mate.  This can be harmless and it can also be a problem.  At times SY males will go into the nests of adult martins and destroy eggs and kill nestlings.  It's all about competition.

As I've written before- Infanticide by definition is basically the killing of young by adults. This behavior occurs in other bird species as well such as House Wrens, Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, Cliff Swallows, English Sparrows and European Starlings. It is believed that unmated SY male martins perform this act because of limited nesting sites, mates, and food, which then is intensified by the urge to mate. By removing and/or killing the young or destroying eggs it causes the mated pair to “divorce” so to speak due to reproductive failure. This gives the SY male the chance to take advantage of the situation and possibly mate with the now “free” female.  During the time that this has happened before there was only one subbie present.  Now I'm seeing three so this could make for an interesting season.  Stay tuned.

2016 Purple Martin Season 1

The 2016 martin season has begun!  On April 6 I dropped the gourds and unfortunately found two dead martins in two separate gourds.  Each bird sustained an injury to the back of the head.  Both deaths could have very possibly been due to territorial disputes since it occurred at the beginning of the season.  Either one could have also been the result of a dispute with a European starling.  I did see a few landing on the racks not long after I put them in the air.  What ever the reason it is always sad to find this.

On a happier note,  I began performing nest checks today and have found several full and partial nests (9 full and 3 partial).  I took a photo of one of the gourds where you can see mud splattered all around the entrance.  This is from the carrying of mud to the nest for building the mud dam.

I'm planning on rebuilding my gourd rack arms for the 2017 season.  The racks I have up have been in use since 1998 and are beginning to show their age.  I will get started on them this summer/early fall.

See these prior posts:  (1)   (2)   (3)

Nest Checking With Grand-daughter

Today I performed my third nest check of the 2015 season and had a little helper recording what I saw- my 7-year old granddaughter.  As I checked each of my 32 gourds I would call out what I was seeing and she would write it down.  We found a total of 31 eggs between the two gourd racks.
This is the first time she actually participated instead of just watching.  I was so proud! 

She was hoping that I would find some nestlings, but it's still too early.  She still remembers the time I allowed her to hold her first purple martin.  She was so excited to hold a tiny, living bird in her hand- and so was I.  She was very excited to participate and can't wait to do it again.  I hope my enthusiasm for the this bird encourages her in the future to have her own purple martin colony and use what I've taught her to maintain it and help this wonderful bird continue to exist.


First Death of the 2015 PUMA Season

The season has barely begun and I already have a casualty.  I had lowered the gourds a couple weeks ago to pull plugs from the crescent/porch gourds when I noticed a foul odor.  Inside one of the gourds I found a dead ASY purple martin which had what appeared to be an injury on the one side of its head.

It is not uncommon for this to happen at the beginning of the season when males are involved in territorial battles for nesting sites and is definitely not the first time this has happened at my colony.  This fighting also occurs between females (see this post "Intraspecific Fighting" and "A Death in the Colony").  Then again a European starling could be the culprit.  It's really a shame that this bird survived its long arduous journey across the Gulf of Mexico to get back here, only to die in this fashion.  I checked for bands, but none were found.

Purple Martin Colony 2014

I haven't mentioned anything about my colony yet this season, which so far is looking pretty good.  They began showing up on February 16, and as of May 17th I have 19 pair, which have so far produced 2 nestlings and 86 eggs. 

Over the last 10 years (of the 20 years of my colony's existence) I've averaged around 23 pair. There was a couple years (2004 & 2010) where I had 25 pair.  In the last 3 seasons though (counting this one) I'm beginning to see a downward trend: 2012- 20 pair, 2013- 18 pair, and this season again with 18 pair.  It is very possible that some could have perished on their way back during their exhaustive migration back from South America.  Just a fact of life with these swallows.  Eventually newer adults could be attracted here which could replace those lost.

As mentioned before I discovered my first of two nestlings, one of which was still inside one half of the egg it hatched from.  When I discover eggshell in the nest I remove them to prevent the other eggs from becoming "capped".

I expect to find more eggs during my next check in 5 days and more the likely more nestlings.  I will report from time to time what's going on.  Hopefully this will be a very productive season.

2014 Purple Martin Colony Preparations

Purple martins are starting to show up in various parts of Texas.  Seems like they just left on their long migration to South America.  I usually begin seeing them showing up at my colony around the second or third week of February, which isn't far away.

This year will mark the 20th year that I have had a martin colony and over the last few days I've began making the usual preparations for their arrival.  I cleaned out and washed the gourds in a mixture of bleach and dish washing liquid and repainted the wooden rack's arms.  Each year I also change out the ropes used to raise and lower the racks.  A rope that has been out in the elements for a year can weaken and the last thing I need in the middle of the nesting season is for a rope to break, which could be disastrous.

I also had to re-caulk several of the PVC elbows that I installed on each gourd that help with ventilation during those hot Texas summer days.  

I've began to replenish my leaf pile that I've had near the racks for years.  This allows the martins to collect nesting material near the colony so as to not waste precious energy looking for it otherwise.

Once I got the gourds attached to the racks arms I placed caps in the entrance holes until I begin to see martins in the area, otherwise English house sparrows and European starlings would try and take over.  Hopefully this will be a productive season.

Read my previous purple martin posts here.

Purple Martin Season 2012

Purple martin season is upon us and like last year I waited until the last minute to get my gourds cleaned, repaired, and ready for the new season. Getting ready involves quite a bit of work so waiting like I did put me in a bit of a rush, and I don't like to rush. I have promised myself that at the close of this season I would make sure that everything is done in a timely matter for the 2013 season.

While inspecting the racks that hold my gourds I found a rotten spot on one of the arms that needed fixing. What I need to do is remove that damaged arm and replace it, but I decided to strengthened it with some metal strapping until I can replace it at the end of this season. The repair job actually turned out pretty good.



I checked the PMCA website and saw that they’re arriving along the Florida, Louisiana, and Texas coasts. As a matter of fact some were sighted today in Orange, TX, which is not very far from where I live. Each year the PMCA asks purple martin landlords to submit their sightings of purple martin “scouts” during their migration back to the United States and Canada.

Even though they're showing up right down the road in Orange, I'm pretty sure they won't be over at my colony for another three weeks. If you look below at the list of their arrival dates here over the last 14 years, you'll see that on average they start showing up around the third week of February.

2011 Feb. 21
2010 Feb. 28
2009 Feb. 21
2008 Feb. 4
2007 Feb. 21
2005 Feb. 12
2006 Feb. 22
2004 Feb. 20
2003 Feb. 19
2002 Feb. 22
2001 Feb. 15
2000 (not recorded)
1999 Feb. 24
1998 Feb. 24

It seems that last season just ended not so long ago and here we are with about 3 weeks to go before they're here again. I just hope that we have a better season this year than we did last year. The drought really took it's toll not only my colony, but also on most others in Texas. Lots of nestlings were lost, more than any other season since I began.

2008 Purple Martin Colony Update

On April 19th I lowered my gourd racks to find my first clutch of 5 eggs for the season, and then on May 1st I had 18 nests containing a total of 88 eggs. Also on this day I found an 8-egg clutch in one of my gourds which is very rare. Over the years I have had several 7-egg clutches, but the only other time I had 8 was in 1996 in a wooden house I built which turned out to be a renest attempt. Purple martins sometimes will attempt another clutch of eggs if the first fails to hatch or is lost due to predators.
Normally with clutches of 7 or 8 not all of them are destined to hatch. I had an exception back in 2002 when a clutch of 7 all hatched, but only 5 of those fledged. At my particular site in the beginning (1995-which consisted of houses only) the average clutch size ranged from 4-5 eggs with an occasional clutch of 6. Ever since I went to an all gourd colony in 2001 I’ve noted an increase in 6-egg clutches, which is one of the main reasons why I converted. Gourds, due to their roominess and other attributes, have shown to increase clutch size and produce greater reproductive success. Hopefully I will luck out this time and have all 8 hatch and fledge. I’ll keep everyone up to date on this particular clutch as the season progresses. As of May 13th I have 96 eggs and 12 nestlings, which tallies up to a total of 108 eggs laid thus far.
The nestlings in this photo are approximately 7 days old, determined by using a set of laminated life-size photos of a developing nestling that can be purchased from the PMCA. You take the nestling from the nest and lay it on top of the photo that most closely matches its size and voila you have its age. Note the large uneaten green darner dragonfly amongst the nestlings. Surprisingly it still has it head- usually the adults will remove it so the dragonfly doesn’t bite on the way down. Also this is a rather large dragonfly for these young nestlings. I found a dead one back in 2002 after it had choked on one this large.
In another nest I found what is known as a “capped” egg. If one or more eggshell hemispheres remain in the nest after a nestling hatches chances are a half could end up attached to the end of any remaining unhatched eggs as seen in the photo. If this happens the nestling inside the egg may have difficulty hatching. I gently picked up the egg, removed the cap and placed it back in the nest. Most times the adults will eat the remaining egg shell (for its calcium content) and other times fly away from the colony to drop them off just like they do with the nestling’s fecal sacs, because dropping either of these on the ground below the colony could possibly attract predators.
Just one more reason why it is so important for martin landlords to perform regular nest checks on their colony. Another update will appear at a later date.

Another Purple Martin Season Nears

It's almost that time again.....Purple martin season! In about 3 weeks I should begin seeing them in the area. They've arrived at my colony during the second week of February every year for the past 10 years. This will be my 14th year as a martin landlord and hopefully it will be a productive season and provide lots of stuff to write about. I finally cleaned all of my SuperGourds, which I should've done months ago. One of them had its entrance hole enlarged by the maw of a gray squirrel. That's what I get for not taking them down soon after the season ended last year.


I ordered a replacement gourd and also some black cap liners for the access caps which will help make the interior of each gourd darker like a natural cavity. I also have a few minor repairs to perform on the gourd racks and should be ready just in time for their arrival. They've been spotted already in parts of Texas- Port O'Connor and Hempstead as of today and the reports should steadily begin to increase in the upcoming weeks. If you are a purple martin enthusiast (or thinking of starting a colony) and not a member of the PMCA I highly recommmend that you become a member. As stated on their website they are the "only organization devoted exclusively to the scientific study of Purple Martins (Progne subis), their biology and habitat requirements".

Purple Martin Dawnsong

As a member of the PMCA (Purple Martin Conservation Association) I at times serve as a mentor offering my experiences with purple martins to others who have colonies, but mostly to those who are trying to establish one, and what I always suggest is the use of a dawnsong recording.

The dawnsong is a series of vocalizations performed by adult (ASY- After Second Year) male martins in the predawn hours above established colonies, with the purpose of attracting other martins who have not yet found breeding sites. I have witnessed this many times above my own colony. Using the dawnsong recording is a way of "advertising" your new site. In the early 90's the PMCA recorded these vocalizations and began selling the recordings in order to help new landlords in establishing their martin colony. Since its inception it has helped many who would have probably otherwise given up.

It's how I established my colony. Believe it or not the day I recieved it in the mail I went into my backyard popped it into the player, turned it on, and within minutes I had martins circling overhead! It's that good. To hear the dawnsong click here.

In the past it was offered on tape and you would have to re-record it onto a continuous loop tape in order to play it over and over again. Now the PMCA offers it on cd and you can set a cd player on continuous play or repeat so it will play constantly.

Since the dawnsong is performed early in the morning, it is advisable that you set up your recording beneath your housing to play during the hours of 4:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. This can be accomplished by plugging your cd player into a timer that can be set to come on and shut off during the prescribed hours. There is even a way to use your computer to play the dawnsong. Find out how here.

So if you're a new landlord or one that has tried unsuccessfully year after year to start a colony, try using the dawnsong. It just might be the thing you need. To order go here.

Purple Martin Colony Success

I was going through my Project Martinwatch nest records and in the 11 years that my colony has been in existence I have had a total of 957 eggs laid, of those 803 hatched and 726 fledged. Here are the percentages:

Hatch Rate 83.9 %
Young That Fledged Rate 90.4 %
Overall Success Rate 75.9 %

This success has not come without a price. Having a successful colony requires work, diligence, and responsibility. I've listed below several informative articles on the PMCA website that explain what is required to have a successful colony. Remember, it's a lot more than just sticking a birdhouse in the air.

Click on to go to article:

Helpful Hints for Martin Landlords
PMCA's Best Martin Management Tips
Attracting and Managing Purple Martins
Top 10 Reasons Why People Fail to Attract Martins
12 Reasons Why People Lose Their Martins
Standards for Purple Martin Housing

Approaching Purple Martin Season

The new purple martin season is upon us. Here in Southeast Texas (at least at my colony) they begin showing up around the first few weeks of February. If you have not done scheduled maintanence, repairs, etc. on your housing you best get busy they'll be here before you know it!
If you are not a member of the PMCA (Purple Martin Conservation Association), I would highly advise joining. They publish a great quarterly magazine, The Purple Martin Update, that has great articles and photographs, and will help further your knowledge of this beautiful swallow and how to maintain your colony. I built and maintain an index to this magazine that is located on their website for an easy search of articles.

If you have a colony or are interested in beginning one and have questions, you can email me and/or check out the PMCA's website which contains tons of info on purple martins.