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caroline94535

5 Purple Martin Photos

17 years ago

A female Purple Martin comes in for a landing while her mate watches from Gourd 5. As of the 13th, they had five eggs. I'll do another nest check on the 16th. Their beaks are black; the light is reflecting off of the gourd and makes his beak appear light colored.

There's a male PM on the porch of Gourd 6; you can almost see his mate's head inside the tunnel entrance. A female stretches one wing near the decoy.

There's one decoy and seven PMs in this photo. Gourd 5 has just a beak sticking out, and Gourd 2 (the back of it is just to the right of the pole) has a beak showing. Gourd 2 also has five eggs. The decoy is catawampus on the arm for Gourd 8.

My little house, front yard, garage, and gourd rack. The raised garden to the south of the house is a work-in-progress. It's 8' wide, 20' long, and is three landscape timbers high. DH has been working hard on it.

The porch and front door will eventually be replaced and a peaked porch/portico/something will cover the entrance.

The two kitchen windows (one shown at the back near the fence) and the larger living room window are scheduled for replacement this summer. There is so much work to do on the place.

The turned-over soil in front of the big window is going to be a flower bed with peonies, tulips, lillies, and a scattering of annuals...eventually. I hope to border it with the large rocks the farmers pull from their fields here.

Great plans, poor energy.

Here are the eggs and nest that are in Gourd 2. I pre-nest the gourds with cedar shavings. Some of the PMs don't add any extra material, some build elaborate nests on top of the shavings, and some add a few leaves and call it good.

By filling the gourds with pre-nests, the birds are free to eat, rest, and regain strength after the migration from Brazil, rather than expending the last of their energy trying to fill the gourd with nesting material.

Managing PMs is all a numbers game. We want them to lay as many eggs as possible; we strive for every egg to hatch and every chick to fledge. Well managed gourds normally produce more eggs and chicks than the smaller cavities found in most houses.

Newer plans for the wooden houses call for 7" H x7" W x 11" Deep cavities. This size provides better owl and hawk protection than the old standard of 6x6 houses. It also allows more room for the 4-7 chicks to develop, and better temperature control.

My gourds are 11" in diameter and half of them are retrofitted with 4" tunnel entrances. This keeps the chicks inside the gourds until they're older and prevents owls and hawks from plucking them out like Scooby Snacks.

This pityful excuse for a nest is in Gourd 5. I have the shavings packed in tightly and almost to the level of the entry hole. They don't need anything else to keep the chicks safe and insulated. These guys took it for what it was worth! LOL They added a couple green leaves and called it good.

When you see green leaves in the nest you know you'll have eggs within a day or two. They continue adding fresh green leaves until the eggs hatch. One theory is the leaves help provide the right amount of humidity to prevent the chicks from sticking in the shell.

Some of the hens will bury their eggs under a thick pile of green leaves when they leave the nest to hunt; some stick one green leaf on top, and I've seen others leave them totally exposed.

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