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.

Counting Peeps

Eggs that have been laid at my purple martin colony are hatching and things so far are looking pretty good.  Sometimes newborn martin get are hard to count so rather than disturbing them too much by feeling around to count them I just whistle softly and heads pop up.

This is probably due to some sort of chatter the adults emit when they arrive with food.  I found a clutch that was a renest attempt meaning that the first set of eggs laid were apparently infertile and kicked out of the nest (which I found on the ground) and then a new clutch laid.

The new clutch contained seven eggs, but I know already that one of them will not be hatching because something "pipped" a small hole in it.  Once this happens bacteria can enter the egg causing it to rot.  I won't be surprised to find this one on the ground.

Purple Martin Colony Update

As I dropped the gourd racks my grand-daughter waited patiently for me to begin today's nest check.I perform these checks every five days to see how things are going.  As I have stated before, having a martin colony allows one to have an up close and personal relationship with these beautiful swallows.  Which is truly a blessing.  We  recorded 79 eggs and 12 newborn nestlings and while doing this came across an interesting find.

We found one nestling that had just hatched, with a portion of the eggshell still attached to it.  I removed the eggshell so that it wouldn't "cap" one of the other eggs that had not hatched yet.   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.

If this happens the nestling inside the egg may have difficulty hatching.  Usually the adult martins with either remove the eggshell or consume it for its calcium content, but sometimes its overlooked and capping occurs.  One of the many duties of the purple martin landlord.

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.

2011 Purple Martin Notes 4

As I walked under the first gourd rack I looked up to see a SY (second year) male looking down at me. I then looked at the ground below the gourds to see more pipped eggs. Checking on the ground below your martin housing can reveal all sorts of goings on. Today I find bad goings on.

Early in the day I had observed a male and female English sparrow entering one of the gourds where before contained a purple martin nest with two eggs, which were missing and could be included in the destroyed eggs I found on the ground. English sparrows will pip eggs as they usurp the nest of other birds. I decided to set up a gourd insert trap in that particular gourd to see if I could catch one of them, particularly the male. You see capturing and killing the female will not stop this mayhem, because the male will only find another mate. Kill the male and the female will abandon the nest and it’s over. Now I know many of you reading this (whom probably are not purple martin landlords) may object, but you must understand that this invasive, non-native species (along with the European starling) are very destructive to not only purple martins, but many other native songbirds in this country. And to allow them access to your purple martin housing will only cause your martin’s lives to become a living hell. In a nutshell- unless you control these pests you have no business putting up martin housing, because you’re doing more harm than good. Unfortunately I was unable to catch it…… today anyway.

There was some good news though….I found a total of eleven new little nestlings. In one gourd I found four young and one unhatched egg that had been pushed near the entrance. This egg was either infertile or addled. It is amazing how the adult female can tell if an egg is “no good”.

I’ve been told by folks at PMCA that they theorize that they do it by feel. This is not the first time I’ve seen this. Several years back I took an egg that had been pushed from the nest and marked it with a pencil. I then placed the egg back in the clutch with the others. Five days later when I performed the next nest check I found that the marked egg had once again been pushed out. Amazing….

NOTE: NEVER REMOVE UNHATCHED EGGS FROM A PURPLE MARTIN NEST UNTIL THE END OF BREEDING SEASON, UNLESS THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY ROTTEN, BROKEN, OR LEAKING.

Other suggested reading:

House Sparrow Revenge

House Sparrows and Starlings Are Super Competitors

Why Landlords Should Conduct Weekly Nest Checks

Don't Throw the Eggs Out!

Purple Martin Notes 3

It has been eight days since my last nest check, which is a little late. I normally do this every five days, the rule of thumb being every 5-7 days.


Before I got started I found an egg on the ground that had a gaping hole in it. Tiny black "sugar" ants had discovered it and were feeding on the contents. It's a good possibility it was an English sparrow or European starling that possibly "pipped" this egg. But then again, it could also have been another purple martin that's responsible. Sometimes the urge to mate becomes so intense in unmated SY (second year) males they will destroy a nest of eggs and even kill young in order to get the parents of those eggs/young into thinking reproductive failure has occured and consequently dissolving the "relationship". This in turn frees up the female for the unmated SY male to then possibly have a partner. This behavior is termed "infanticide". I wrote an article about my experience with this for the PMCA several years back. This behavior is seen in other species of birds also.


The check yielded a total of 45 eggs not counting the single egg I found in a vacant gourd. This is odd to find an egg where there isn't even a nest for it. Why did this happen? Was the egg infertile and moved to this empty gourd by one of the parents? Normally they would either push an infertile or addled egg out of the nest bowl or completely out of the nest to the ground. This is what I like about being a landlord- lots of interesting behaviors and questions to be pondered.

Purple Martin Notes 2

Yesterday I found the first purple martin eggs of the season nestled in a nest’s bowl. So far I've got nests in 22 of my 32 Supergourds and hopefully each will be filled with eggs in the days to come. I'll know more in about four more days when I check them again. One of the local cooper’s hawks has been busy. I watched the other day as a male grackle mobbed it while it flew away with a nestling in its clutches. Hope they steers clear of my colony…

Purple Martin Notes

Here we go again.... My purple martins have begun nest building and while doing nest checks I came across this dead ASY (adult second year) female. Intra-specific fighting among females pretty much occurs at the beginning of every season when females battle it out for their chosen nest site. I've written two blog posts about this before here. So far fourteen gourds out of thirty-two have nests in them. Hopefully this season will be a profitable one, but then there's hurricane season looming in the background.

Purple Martin Colony Notes 2010

May, 10 2010

On or around the first of May I was outdoors and began hearing the mobbing calls of several species of birds. Looking towards my martin colony I spotted two Cooper’s hawks flying overhead, one with a bird in its talons. These are probably the same two hawks that have frequented this residential area for many years. Several male grackles, a blue jay and three purple martins banded together to mob the hawks, eventually driving them away. All this happened so quickly I was unable to identify the unfortunate bird that had been captured. It very well could’ve been a purple martin since it occurred over my colony. Moments before the incident I recall hearing their song overhead. It’s sad and not something a purple martin landlord wants to witness, but I guess everything’s gotta eat. I remember years ago watching a hawk snatch a European starling on the wing, and what an incredible sight that was. European starlings and English sparrows are not native to this country and both are vicious nest site competitors of purple martins as well as other songbirds. In my opinion (and I’m certain most martin landlords will agree) they can eat all of the European starlings and English sparrows they want. I normally do a nest check every 5-7 days, but I was busy and allowed 7 extra days to go by before checking again. On April 27th I had only 4 eggs and today I had a total of 81 eggs counted in 21 gourds. This confirms that so far I have 21 pair of purple martins, which is about average for my site. There are seven other gourds though that have nests in them, but no eggs, and I hope at least some of these will have eggs the next time I check.

A friend of mine recently established his own martin colony after several years of disappointment. It got to the point that he was about to give up, but I encouraged him to keep trying. It eventually paid off and he now has an established colony consisting of two pair. The only thing is he’s reluctant to manage it. He’s afraid that if he so much as talks near his housing they will leave and never return. This, of course, is totally untrue.

One of the main responsibilities is the conducting of weekly nest checks in order to prevent this. Purple martins will abandon a nest or entire colony if the wrong situations occur. These are listed the PMCA’s (Purple Martin Conservation Association) article entitled “Twelve Reasons Why People Lose Their Purple Martins”.

May 18, 2010


Today’s nest check presented not only an increase in egg numbers (94 eggs), but also 9 brand new nestlings.


I always tap on the pole that supports my gourd racks before I lower them just to let any incubating adults inside know that I’m present. No sense in surprising them. They’ll exit the gourds and along with the adults that were perched on the racks will fly to a nearby sweet gum tree or to a perch that I provide where they watch and wait for me to finish my landlord duties.

Today one lone female decided that she wasn’t going to leave her eggs. She eventually left the gourd, which enabled me to count her five glistening eggs.

By the way, the reason the egg’s shell begins to “shine” is due to the rotation of the eggs by the adults as they’re incubated so that they are warmed evenly. The eggs rub against the nesting material (leaves, pine straw, and small twigs) as they’re turned polishing them.

Notebook Jottings 5

"Study nature, not books." ~ Louis Agassiz

While mowing grass I watched as one of my purple martin (Progne subis) gourds fell to the ground like an apple falling from a tree. The martins have showed back up at my site and good thing the nesting phase had not begun. If it had I would have a bunch of scrambled eggs in that gourd. I looked up at the rack and noticed that the wire that it was hanging from had broken.

It had worn out from the gourd swinging in the wind. I then decided to change out all of the wires so this same thing doesn't happen when they begin laying.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted something black hopping across my front yard. It was a spicebush butterfly (Papilio troilus) that appeared to have just crawled from the confines of its chrysalis with its wings still not quite dry. I helped it out by placing it under a nearby bush so a hungry bird wouldn't spot it out in the open.

My son was lifting up a block of cement that rests in our yard and I noticed a squirming bundle beneath it. Come to find out we discovered the love nest of a couple of rough earth snakes (Virginia striatula). I'm always finding these when I work out in the yard having to relocate them to keep them away from the strings of my weedeater. They're harmless and love earthworms and spiders. Great to have in your flower garden.


Squirrels like eating mushrooms they come across when foraging. I found this one sitting on top of a bird feeder I have attached to an oak tree that local gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) use frequently. They will cache mushrooms, sometimes hanging them in the crook of a branch in order to dry them out. Squirrels are known to even eat mushrooms that are poisonous to humans, such as the amanita (Amanita muscaria). Some believe that due to their short digestive tract the poisons are not in their systems long enough to do harm.

Early Purple Martin Return

I received an email from an acquaintance of a post on the TEXBIRDS listserv about the early arrival of a purple martin on January 3rd in Eagle Lake, TX. I forwarded this post to a couple of people associated with the PMCA (Purple Martin Conservation Association) and was told of another sighting reported on Dec. 31st in Houston, TX. This would not be a good thing since we're about to get slammed with some weather that is cooler than normal for our area. It is believed though that these birds are anomalies and not indicitive of "the" return of the majority of these birds.

Notebook Jottings 2

May 21, 2009

I found this headless female swamp darner on the ground below my gourd racks today. One of the adult purple martins must've captured it for one of its young and dropped it. Adults remove the heads of dragonflies before they feed them to their young so they don't bite on the way down.

April 6, 2008

While walking towards the barn a yellow-bellied racer (aka blue racer) came “racing” from the tall hay nearby and headed straight for the barn. I ran after it and it left me in a wake of its dust. They don’t call them racers for nuttin’. I went into the barn and found its trail in the sand where it entered and followed it to where it escaped under the wall on the opposite side. Gone baby gone…


February 27, 2007

Found several strands of course dark hair that had been snagged by some barbed wire. More than likely it was from one of the many feral hogs that root up the woods. But hey you never know......could be from Bigfoot....


May 16, 2005

I pulled on side of HWY 73 in Sabine Pass to check out a small marsh area. As I stood at its edge little did I know that something lurked beneath the surface of the water. Slowly the reptilian began to rise scaring the literal hell out of me. Moments before I had thought of wading in to explore......


June 27, 2004

I've always been amazed at the arch formations in Arches National Park in Utah. Never did I expect to be standing below one of them (Delicate Arch) one day......