Purple Martin Forum

I guess I should have looked before I opened my mouth. Just found the index on the PMCA website.
Thank you.

Hi All, Today I spent some time looking through past issues of the Update, trying to find an article about martins nesting in a pipe under a pier in Washington State. I remembered the article well, just couldn't recall the date. Anyway, after looking through 12 years of tables of contents, I finally...

Hi Steve, Bob using iron sights or a scope ?

Stan

Hi Ken, Sure was a nice surprise seeing your post. I've been wondering how things are going for you this year, glad to hear the good news. I checked nests on the north end of Camano Island day before yesterday and there are more pairs there than any year since the colony started in 2000. It's been a...

Glad to hear some good news about Griggsville. I was surprised to see my somewhat unrelated post about Sacramento, I had totally forgotten that I made it. But since the subject of insecticides was brought up back in 2005, I thought I’d share what’s been learned since then, regarding the role insecti...

Hanover Bill, that’s a great observation. There is clearly a distribution and abundance gap in the Appalachians. (The PMCA Scout Arrival map shows a similar gap.) Of the millions of Eastern birds in the surrounding regions, why are there relatively so few martins in these Eastern mountainous areas ?...

Hi All, Here's a link to an eBird weekly display of the annual migration. I thought it was pretty cool. You can play it through and/or pause at any particular week. The dates are displayed at the bottom of the map at the control bar. Stan Kostka https://ebird.org/science/status-and-trends/purmar/abu...

Hi KathyF, Just wanted to say thanks for posting this totally cool sighting of the martins at Point Wilson, with photographs to confirm. I've spent quite a bit of time chasing martins around the Olympic Peninsula, mostly in Jefferson County. I've found them nesting in all kinds of places, on ledges ...

I do believe it's possible, and here's one reason why finding martins in Eastern Washington, breeding or not, would be a big deal. hope this link works. http://ebird.org/ebird/map/purmar?neg=true&env.minX=-128.3977724914551&env.minY=43.79366929222311&env.maxX=-111.0943056945801&env.maxY=50.070159046...

My window on the virtual world is an antique laptop with outdated software, and an already overloaded hard drive. Also, our ISP account has a data limit.

Could post the videos to YouTube ?

Hi Ren, Well it looks like you are sticking to your story, and I'm sticking to mine. The birds you describe fledging young and leaving by the end of May cannot be Purple Martins. In the Central Valley of California, where summer comes earlier than it does anywhere in the Northwest, martins are still...

Hi Ren, You really caught my attention at first saying they nested in the eaves of your house, something which is well documented in the literature, and something I have seen first hand on multiple occasions, especially in areas where there are breeding martins, and no nestboxes or gourds. But, base...

Hi Ren, My name is Stan Kostka and I've been studying martins in Washington State for a long time. All currently known Washington martins nest in counties west of the Cascades. I am aware of only twenty reports/records of martins in Eastern Washington counties (excluding Klickitat), 18 were only one...

Just got home from an evening visit to Camano Island, and that late SY pair was still there feeding their nestlings. I got there around 6 oclock and observed many feedings, stayed until it started to get dark and they came in and roosted. So, with a fledging date of tomorrow, this is the latest nest...

Hi Ed, I visited the site this morning and the subadult pair is still feeding their 30 day old nestlings. I wonder how much longer it will go on. I know that some martins in this region have been fitted with geolocators, but I do not know what all the results have been to date. When I learn an answe...

Today an SY pair continues to feed 28 day old nestlings on the north end of Camano Island. I expect them to fledge anytime, maybe tomorrow. This most likely will be the second latest nest I have ever personally observed here in the Pacific Northwest. Many years ago I banded 14 day old young on Septe...

These gourds were installed in the spring of 2006 by friends of the late Kevin Li. Kevin planned to install the gourds himself but died tragically the previous winter. His job with King County had him often out in a boat on Puget Sound and Lakes Union and Washington in and around Seattle, and he ins...

Hi Mary, I checked nests at English Boom on Camano Island yesterday, there are 19 pairs there this year, same as last year, one nest has a couple cold eggs, but all others contain young, ranging from a few days old to near fledging. Looks like your photo did not post. Could you send me a copy ? Than...

Hi Mary,

I did a nest check of the English Boom martin colony on the north end of Camano Island yesterday, and found eggs in about a third of the 17 cavities. This is the earliest I have ever seen martin eggs in the North Sound.

Stan

Mary, I think it's great you put up housing after seeing martins using a piling cavity. I'm assuming you are at Greenbank on Whidbey ?, if so, your site is one a very few known martin colonies in Island County. To the best of my knowledge, your site is only the seventh report/record of martins nesti...