Our weather has been beautiful over the last couple of weeks. Sunny and 75 with no rain in sight. The Purple Martins took advantage of this beautiful weather and continued to migrate north. Our colonies are filled with birds – including the newly arrived subadults.
Subadults, also referred to as second-year (SY), are the birds that hatched last season and they tend to migrate 4-12 weeks later than the mature adult birds. They typically do not return to the same site of which the hatched but may return to the same area.
We were excited to see the beginnings of nest building this week. The birds have been busy collecting twigs, leaves and mud around the area of their colonies and making short trips back and forth to build the nest.
Some nests even have green leaves! Purple Martins will begin to line the nest with green leaves as they get closer to laying eggs. It is a bit of a mystery why they do this – but it makes their nest unique and is a nice signal to us that eggs are on the way!
With our first eggs just around the corner, we have our live camera set up and ready to stream those first egg laying days to you Live! We are so excited for another season of MartinTV and hope you can join us again this year to watch a pair of Purple Martins raise their young from egg to fledge live on camera 24/7.
Stay tuned to our social media for when we announce that Season 6 of MartinTV has gone live!
Mercedes
PMCA Field Biologist