Socks, I'll also refer you to the link I posted earlier. There's so much information at the PMCA site that you may enjoy reading. Purple Martins have the unusual distinction of relying upon man made housing for safety while breeding. If there's not enough housing in one colony, they'll search for another place. If my housing were to be destroyed and not replaced, they would search for another but would come back here first to see if housing was available. If they didn't have housing, they would find shelter in trees but would not breed. Once breeding is over and the young ones have fledged, they will start to gather in large groups called "roosts" and prepare for migration. The smaller roosts will meet up with larger groups to form "super roosts" and these are visible from radar! The roosts are generally in trees and they gather for the night. As far as the same birds returning year to year, I can't prove it with my little colony but I do recognize certain birds from year to year. The only way to really prove that is by banding, but you have to be certified to band birds. There are couples that prefer certain housing units over another. We proved that this year by only opening the newer housing first. They kept on checking out the older ones and the minute we opened them, they swooped in and made themselves at home. The young birds (SY) will come back to where they hatched. If they find housing, they will settle in. If not, they'll search nearby. Here's a picture of my current 108 unit set up. Pay no attention to that leaning pole....it's been up for a while!

Fantastic, Caroline!!! Nothing says spring is here like the returning of our favorite birds!!! You do such a bang-up job providing your PMs with only the best housing!! There is an elderly neighbor up the street that leaves her garage door up most of the time and a beautiful Carolina wren has chosen a Phillips light bulb box in which to make a nest and she has little ones in there now. It's neat to see the young-uns up close like that. Congrats on your new arrivals!!

And now I interrupt the "end of the season" blues... ... to report about 20 Purple Martins are over my front yard and gourd rack right now. They are zooming around, soaring, circling, calling and chattering, and all-in-all being absolutely delightful. Even without grabbing the binoculars I could make out a few newly-fledged PMs bumbling along. I don't think these are "my" birds. They've been overhead for about an hour. Then they began dive-bombing and zooming by the gourds as fast as they could. After 15 minutes of that, two got brave enough to land and look inside a few of the gourds. Now there is a new fledge perched on the top pulley, as high up as he can get. He's chattering and bobbing, puffing up and looking all around in a very proprietorial way. Fledges all look the same, but I'm certain this is male. He's going to be a real (but delightful) pest next season as a SY, and an awesome beauty the next. Could he be the one to help produce my first 8-egg nest? It's August 13, three days past their latest departure date ever, and they are still being very good medicine.

My PMs returned on April 28! I have beautiful songs and long swooping flights all over the place. The 16 gourds will provide safe housing/nesting areas for up to 16 pairs of birds. There is usually one or two males that will claim more than one gourd. His female will nest in their main one, but he won’t allow other martins in “his” empty gourd. I think I had 12 successful pairs last year. I’ll have to check my records. Spring migration is spotty this year. The Northern “Baltimore” orioles and Rose-breasted grosbeaks are back. I have several warblers, red-polls, and Harris’ sparrows passing through, too. The tree swallows are back, but no barn swallows yet. I sprinkle dried, crushed eggshells on the edge of the driveway for all the birds. All the swallows love them. I also have a gorgeous red-headed woodpecker hanging around the suet feeders with the Downey and Hairy WPs. The goldfinches are just starting to show a bit of their summer yellow color.