Purple Martin Babies!
April 28, 2020 8 Comments
Purple Martin Nesting Gourds
Martins Collecting Pine Needles for Nest
Bird’s Eye View from Inside Gourd
Five Eggs in Nest
Newly Hatched Babies (Pinkies)
Growing Purple Martin Babies
Older Babies with Pinfeathers
Parents Bring Bugs to Growing Babies
Babies Waiting to be Fed
Hungry Baby with Mouth Wide Open
Rainbow Over Purple Martin Gourds
We have so many purple martin babies! Did a backyard count here in Florida and the grand total for our nesting colony is 201 purple martins (107 babies, 22 eggs, and 72 adults). Ages range from eggs to newborn pinkies to older babies with pinfeathers. Love this time of year! Learn more from the Purple Martin Conservation Association at: https://www.purplemartin.org/
UPDATE May 16, 2020: Lots of babies fledging this week! Constant activity at the nesting gourds – great time of year!
About Pam
Wonderful pictures inside the gourds!
Thanks! It’s the coolest thing – took the pictures with a cell phone and our One360 cam. Birds constantly flying in and out of the gourds today feeding the babies bugs.
That is incredible!! Have you been involved long in the Purple Martin Society? I must ask how you get the photos inside the gourds? Do you lower them from time to time? This is quite a treasure!
Thanks! I’ve been involved with the PMCA for a long time. We lower the gourd rack (it is on a pulley) from time to time to check on the babies. It’s fun for us, but also helps the martins because we can solve any problems we find.
Purple martins have been habituated to people for hundreds of years, going back to Native Americans hanging natural gourds to attract the birds to eat insects. The bird’s eye view picture was taken with our new One360 camera. We love our purple martins! By July they’ll leave this area, gather in big flocks in South Florida, and then travel back to Brazil for the other half of the year.
That’s just incredible. How fascinating for you…. and unfortunate for the birds! The local wetlands where I volunteer has Purple Martin gourds and condos (?). The Naturalist told us they did a study to see which style the birds seem to prefer, and they seemed to like the gourds better. She said something about early use of actual gourds. But where do purple martins nest if there are no man-made homes? They remind me very much of Swifts that nest in clefts in rocky cliffs and such.
Yes I’ve found that martins like gourds best, and preferably relatively close to human dwellings. I have 3 gourd racks, and of the three, the most popular one is right by the driveway! If there are no gourds available, purple martins have been known to nest in natural old unused nesting holes in trees. Out west there are very few purple martins, but of those few there, they have been documented nesting in cavities in saguaros and in trees up in the mountains.
Awesome colony and stunning shots!
Thank you! We have the prettiest birds!