Updated Soon: 2010 Purple Martin Recovery Blog

Young and Old Alike

One of the best parts of managing a Purple Martin colony is sharing the experience with others. My Grandmother and my Niece, both enjoy helping with nest checks!

9th and 10th Nest Check

Most Purple Martin pairs are now busily carrying in large insects, especially dragonflies!

The nesting season is continuing nicely. Several of the young are now near fledgling stage. At the Memory Lake Colony, three nests contained one dead young each, while two of the nests have fledged a total of 8 young. Several of the young should fledge by the next nest check! Several of the nests at the Snake River Colony needed to have their nests replaced due to blowfly infestations. There are currently 14 nests with young, some of which should begin fledging anyday! There is a nest in one of the Excluder Gourds that contains only one young; the little nestings seems to have suffered repeated attacks, as it contains several scars and markings on his head. The Pokegama Lake Colony consists of three active nests with young. One of the nests in the T-14 had a severe infestation from blowlfies, the young were skinny, sluggish, and obviously anemic. I quickly changed their nest and removed MANY blowfly larvae. The other three nests with young appeared very healthy. One of the nests have started fledging at the ECE Colony, remarkably, out of the same gourd that was the first to fledge young last year! The ECE Colony has 21 nests with young, and one nest still contains eggs! The Rush Lake Colony currently has eight nests with young, two of the nests contain newly hatched young.

Waiting for the Nest Check

The Memory Lake Colony Purple Martins patiently waiting for me to finish conducting my nest check!

Nest Replacements

At this stage of the nesting season (most nests containing quickly growing young), it is very important to conduct nest replacements to remove harmful nest parasites. The main parasite that needs to be removed is blowfly larvae, which suck the blood of the nestlings causing some to become anemic. Reducing the number of blowfly larvae greatly increases the nesting success of the Purple Martins. Nests changes involve removing the nestings (at around 8 and 18 days of age) from the nest and placing them in a 5 gal. plastic bucket that containes dried White Pine needles. After the young have been removed, the entire nest and the parasites contained within, can be dumped into a waste container. A handful of dried While Pine needles should be placed back into the nesting compartment and a bowl should be formed at the back of the cavitiy. The nestlings can then be placed back into their parasite free nest!

7th and 8th Nest Check

The Purple Martin season is in full swing! Many of the nests have hatched out, while some of them still contain eggs. The Memory Lake Colony has 16 nests with young and two nests with eggs. The Snake River Colony has 13 nests with young and two nests that have eggs are that are expected to hatch soon. The Pokegama Lake Colony has one nest that hatched on the 6th of June, the other nests are just now beginning to hatch. Unfortunately, there were two nests that didn't hatch-out any of their eggs. One nest containted five eggs and the other nest contained four eggs. I cracked each of the eggs to see if they contained embryos. The eggs in the nest with four eggs only contained yolk; the female was likely infertile as these eggs were being incubated for nearly two weeks. Three of the five eggs in the second nest contained half developed embroys while the other two contained only yolk; perhaps the female was predated by a hawk? The ECE Colony now has 13 nests with young and nine nests with eggs. This colony is also having its share of bad luck in addition to the House Sparrow attack that occured early in the season. Five nests that contained eggs failed to hatch. Two nests contained only two eggs, it is likely that these nests contained more eggs but were destroyed be the House Sparrow before they could recorded; the remaining eggs may have simply been abandoned. Three of the nests that didn't hatch contained five eggs each! All 15 eggs contained only yolk! These nests were also incubated for nearly two weeks. Perhaps these females were also infertile, or were never fertilized by a male... one will never know!?!? The ECE Colony does have some good news - a new clutch of eggs was laid on June 24th! The earliest possible fledge date for these young is August 8th! The Rush Lake Colony is doing farily well. Four of the nests now contain young and five of the nests contain eggs. In total, ECMPMR colonies consist of 77 nests, with a total of 346 eggs laid!

6th Nest Check - Hatching Continues

The 6th nest check of the ECMPMR colonies proved to be a rewarding one, as many of the eggs have hatched! The Memory Lake Colony now has 13 nests with young! The oldest nestings, found in the T-14, are 8 days old, and are expected to fledge on June 7th. Five other nests contain eggs. The Snake River Colony is much younger than the Memory Lake Colony; thus, the nests are a bit behind. Four of the nests contain young, while the other 11 still contain eggs. The earliest fledges from this colony are expected on July 13th. The Pokegama Lake Colony's six nests currently only contain eggs. The rather large ECE Colony has several large broods with six nestlings. There are currenty nine nests with young, four of which have six nestings! The other 16 nests contain eggs. The first fledges at the ECE Colony are expected on July 8th. The ECE Colony also has a few later nests, which are expected to fledge on August 8th! The Rush Lake Colony has one nest with six young, the other eight nests contain eggs.