The Purple Martins officially returned to the PMCA colony sites on April 12th. We spotted two adult males and one female at our West Pier site, two adult males at our Rotary Pavilion site, and one adult male at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center location. Their cheerful chatter is a sure sign that spring is here and we are so excited to have them back.
To prepare for their arrival, all of the housing has been cleaned out and disinfected with a diluted water/bleach solution and filled with a handful of dry pine straw. We then keep all of the gourds and housing closed by using foam entrance plugs or turning around the nest trays to block the entrance. Once the time arrives for Purple Martins to return to our area, we only open one or two cavities at each location. This tactic prevents other species like Tree Swallows, Eastern Bluebirds or the non-native English House sparrows from taking over the housing before the Purple Martins arrive. We open more cavities as more martins return until they are all open.
You can monitor the Purple Martin’s spring migration progress by checking out our Scout-Arrival Study. Thousands of Purple Martin landlords participate in this citizen-science project by reporting the first arrival, or “scout”, at their colony which we document and post on an interactive map. It is an incredibly useful resource for Purple Martin landlords to determine the best time to prepare and open their housing.
In the week after our first arrival, more martins began to arrive. We spotted at least 12 birds at our West Pier colony this week. They sheltered through the snowstorm and cold weather over the weekend and were busy feeding in the warmer days that followed.
Stay tuned to our blog page and social media for updates on our Purple Martins, our exciting summer field research, and the return of our Live NestCam!
Mercedes Leofsky
PMCA Biologist