Good gourd, you'll be a busy neighbor! Feed them plenty of mosquitoes for me. I thought I was doing well with my regular bunny tenants renewing the lease under my shed!

Lydia 1959...As far as it's known, from decades of research by the PMCA and other organizations, the Purple Martins in the eastern half of the U.S. nest only in man-made cavities, and near human activity. Since the times before Columbus they have "imprinted" on humans. The eastern Native Americans lured them to their villages and gardens by setting natural gourds on sticks and dead trees. They knew when the Purple Martins were near, the flying insects were kept at bay. There is a small scattering of PMs on the west coast, and they seem to be nesting in single family groups around piers. There was a lot of excitement when a colony was discovered nesting in drainage pipes under highway overpasses around the Sacramento area. Still, for the vase majority of the Purple Martins, and the entire eastern population, it's man made housing. You can see the problem since fewer and fewer people are offering, and safely managing, housing for them. The PMs, along with our native blue birds, started declining in the 1950s and were fast approaching endangered status. The main causes were lack of housing being offered to them, loss of wooden fence posts in the case of the blue birds, and the explosion of the imported, non-native English House Sparrow that will kill/destroy any cavity nester, its eggs and its chicks, that it can find...PMs, bluebirds, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, etc. all fall prey to these non-natives. So, loss of habitat, explosive numbers of non-native competitors, and a lack of well-managed housing not being offered is the main culprits of the decline of our native cavity nesters. I wish you could come visit. I sit under the feeder tree each morning with my tea and listen to the beautiful chatter, chortles, and songs of the PMs. They're here for such a short time, but I try to enjoy them enough to last the rest of the year. They travel to and from southern Brazil each year to raise their families. They come back to the same colony each year. They are magical!

Hey Leslie; this is my latest year ever. They didn't even return until Mother's Day this year. They didn't bother making nests and just used the comfy pre-nests I made them. They were late pairing up, and they're late laying eggs. The eggs I have are big and heavy, well, big and heavy for the size of the birds. I've been hosting PMs since 2004. This is the latest, coldest, oddest season yet. Also, starting the new colony was hard. I'm 15-20 miles west and north from the base where I had to turn dozens of pairs away; I simply couldn't afford to put up more than the two racks I offered there. I think I've "stolen" three colonies here, and I still don't have a full house. I'm going to try to do another nest check tomorrow and take photos. I might have a pinkie or two by now! I've had a mystery illness this spring and then had an MRI last week. It knocked me for a loop. The iodine dye gave me a bad reaaction; I was covered in hives from scalp to my toes and all points between. I "watch" the birds; but I've not been too interactive with them this spring. I will do the nest changes when the chicks are 10 days old even if I have to hire a neighbor to help me.

Carolyn--glad to hear from you and yes this weather is doing a number on nests, birds and people. Guess you have heard about all the flooding in Minot. It has been so interesting driving there. I have had to go in twice a week for therapy on my back after slipping early March on ice. NOT FUN!! Anyway, I think I too have lost a nest from a Robin, but not sure it is crows or a neighbors cat. Dumb bird just would not stay on the nest and keep quiet. It is a wonder that any Robins make it. I don't have the houses out that you due, even though son in law said I could. He has been so busy with DD getting chemo treatments, his work in the city, late snows etc. Oh well, there is always next year. We just barely got the garden in. Thanks for keeping us updated. Marie from the other end of ND.