Martin 101: Growth of the Purple Martin Nestling
It takes just 20 days for a Purple Martin to grow from a tiny hatchling to then reach their peak weight. Nestlings can fledge as early as 26 days, with most fledging around 28-30 days old. Let’s take a look at each stage of growth of the Purple Martin. Pipping Egg: If you look at […]
Martin 101: Embryonic Development
Before we get started on embryonic development, let’s learn about the structure of the egg to make things easier to understand. The eggshell is composed of calcium and magnesium salts, and is porous in texture. This porosity allows water vapor and respiratory gasses to pass in and out of the shell. The “yolk” of an […]
PMCA Colony Update 2021: Importance of Nest Checks
It’s hatching time! Our colonies here at PMCA headquarters are full of newly hatched nestlings. We currently have 123 active nests with either eggs or nestlings out of our available 139 cavities. This is a lot of nests to keep track of! We conduct nest checks two times each week from when nest building begins […]
Martin 101: Vocalization
Vocalizations are a major form of communication in animals, and can range from alarms calls to courtship calls. Vocalizations develop as the martins grow. The songs are longer, more complex vocalizations that seem like an actual song to the human ear, whereas bird calls are shorter, usually one or two syllables in length. Songs are […]
PMCA Colony Update 2021: First Eggs and LiveCam
Our first egg of the season was laid on May 24th – a whole week earlier than last year. In the days since that first egg, the martins continued nest building and a few others began to lay their first eggs. It is now countdown to hatch day! Purple Martins lay one egg per day […]
Subadult Identification
Purple Martin ID: During the breeding season there are four distinct age/sex classes for Purple Martins. These are: adult male adult female subadult male subadult female. After nestlings fledge, there is a fifth distinguishable age class of juvenile. Juveniles cannot be sexed by plumage. Adult (ASY) Male—Adult males are the only Purple Martins to have iridescent, […]
PMCA Colony Update 2021: Nest Building and Subadult Arrival
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 […]
Project MartinWatch: A PMCA Citizen-Science Project
What is Project MartinWatch? Project MartinWatch (PMW) is a continent-wide Citizen-Science project designed to help landlords better manage their colony as well as help the Purple Martin Conservation Association (PMCA) track the reproductive biology of Purple Martins. Information collected includes nesting dates, number of eggs laid, how many eggs hatch, and how many nestlings survive. […]
Martin 101: Nest Identification
Your houses and gourds are set up, Purple Martins have returned, but wait! Are non-Purple Martins taking up residence at your colonies?! Several other species of cavity-nesting birds will also nest in martin housing. The task of identifying a nest can be challenging, especially if the tenant of a mystery nest is not observed entering […]
PMCA Colony Update 2021: OUR SEASON HAS BEGUN
The 2021 Purple Martin season has begun at the PMCA headquarters with our first scouts arriving on 4/14/2021. Our first adult pair was spotted at our Rotary Pavilion Colony site. More birds have arrived over the last week and we now have several pair at each of our colony sites. We were very excited to […]