The first Purple Martin eggs in my 2013 colony were laid June 11 in Gourd 2.

Today there is a group of young fledglings keeping the colony all happy and excited. I watched them in the gourds last night while Mom and Dad were feeding them; no one had fledged (when young chicks fly out of the nest under their own power). Today they are all over the rack.

I'm guessing this is Gourd 2's chicks. All the other eggs were at least five days behind, except Gourd 17 that didn't get eggs until July 10.

The birds are late, and slow, and not as productive this year. At the last check, July 17, I had 12 active nests with 48 chicks, 5 eggs still being incubated, and 11 bad eggs. Of the 11 bad eggs, 10 were clear, not fertilized, and one had a tiny, barely distinguishable, dead embryo.

I have all ASY (After Second Year, fully mature) males this year, and far more males than females. I have at least two SY (Second year, not yet fully mature) females with chicks.

Second Year birds hatched the previous year and have made one round trip migration to and from Brazil. When they return for their second winter there they molt into their full adult, ASY, plumage.

And that's all the news that's fit to print from beautiful north-town Larimore, ND!