Our first egg of the season was laid on May 22 in a gourd at our Sommerheim location. Although our martins arrived later than they have in recent years, they took no time waiting to lay eggs, with our first egg appearing a week earlier than last year.
With each nest check, we are finding more nests with eggs and are looking forward to all of our houses being filled with Purple Martin chicks. We expect our first few nests to hatch in the second week of June.
Our NestCam is entering it’s third week of going live on Youtube. We watched together as the martin pair built a nest and laid their first egg on Saturday, May 26. Sadly, after laying four eggs, the female left the gourd in the early morning on Wednesday and never came back. She likely was lost to predation. We are all saddened at her loss and the loss of their four eggs but are hopeful that her mate will find a new female in the coming weeks. We have since moved the camera to an adjacent gourd so you will still have the opportunity to watch an adult pair raise their young. We were excited to see our new martin family lay their first egg this morning.
Follow this link to watch the live NestCam: Purple Martin NestCam 2018
Mercedes
PMCA Field Biologist