PMCA Colony Update 2020: Continued Research
Despite setbacks from Covid-19, we were able to proceed with our ongoing research projects. We continued our banding study and were able to band every nestling that hatched at each of our colony sites. This amounted to over 450 nestlings. This study allows us to see which location returning birds hatched from, their age, and […]
PMCA Colony Update 2020: NestCam Fledglings
On Wednesday, July 15th our LiveCam nestlings reached 26 days old and all took their first flight. Watching the Purple Martin nestlings grow from tiny pink hatchlings to feathered birds taking to the skies is always a rewarding experience and we are so happy you were able to watch it with us. In a couple […]
Pmca colony update 2020: Banding
We are continuing our ongoing banding study this season by banding every nestling hatched at our colonies. This usually ends up being over 500 nestlings – its a busy time of year! We wait until the nestlings reach at least eleven days old to band them. Their legs actually get smaller as they […]
PMCA Colony update 2020: Lots of Nestlings
Hatching is in full swing at the PMCA colonies. Most of our nests have hatched with the remaining few due to hatch over the next week. We continue our twice weekly nest checks to ensure our martins and their nestlings are doing well. Frequent nest checks allow us to monitor nest parasites, predation and any […]
PMCA Colony Update 2020: Hatch Day!
It’s the start of hatch season today at the PMCA with our first nests due to hatch today. The nest on our LiveCam began hatching last night. Five out of the six eggs have hatched so far – Tune in to watch LIVE! Our colonies are almost at full capacity this year with […]
PMCA Colony Update 2020: We have Eggs
It was a slow start for our martins here at the PMCA as we experienced cold spring weather, including snow in the month of May. Our martins arrived on April 24th with our subadults following a month after on May 20th. We were excited to see the first egg laid on May 30th by our […]
pmca colony update 2019: Banding and Field Research
It has been a busy month for our field research team here at the PMCA. Our twice weekly nest checks now included banding and nest changes on most days. All of the nestlings at our colony sites are banded when they reach at least eleven days old. By the end of the season we will […]
pmca colony update 2019: Our first eggs have begun hatching
The first nest of our season hatched on June 17th and with that begins a busy couple weeks of eggs hatching every day. When a nest first hatches, we use our laminated martin photos to age the young. Using their age we can determine the actual hatch date, the date that they can be banded […]
PMCA Colony Update 2019: We have eggs
The first egg of the 2019 season at the PMCA was laid on May 29th. We now have multiple eggs in almost every cavity at each of our colony sites. We are also excited to announce that Season 4 of Martin TV is now live on YouTube. We have a live camera that gives you […]
PMCA Colony update 2019: Subadult martins are here
It’s been over a month since the arrival of the first scouts to our colonies. Over that time, more and more martins have arrived including the subadult martins on May 23rd. During the last week the martins have been busy gathering nesting material and we now have several well built nests at each of our […]