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.