Wed was a very nice day so I decided to get ready for the return of the Purple Martins that reside in my colony. I have been hosting Purple Martins for ten years. They return each year like clock work. I wrote a blog explaining their migration habits and facts last year. I am not going to repeat all the info in this blog, but if you would like to read it for more info click
here. I put the gourds away each year after they leave in early July so I have to get them out and put them back up in early Feb. just before they return. The first one last year returned on Feb. 13. They should be back any day now.
I inspect all the gourds(plastic) before I hang them up.
A little pine straw is added as insulation to help the PMs stay warm during cold nights
This is the PM House with 4 gourds attached below, I also have 12 additional gourds on another pole for a total of 21available PM couples.
That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by.
Next Blog: Monday
Home you get a full house-I mean gourds:)
ReplyDeleteBased on previous yrs stats, 17-19 couples will occupy my colony. Each couple will produce about 5 eggs so there will be around 85-90 offsprings for a total of 115-120 PMs in the colony before they migrate back to South America. Sorry, that is more info than you need!
DeleteJust love PMs. When I lived in Maryland, they used to follow behind our John Deere when we were cutting the grass to catch all the bugs. Cool!
ReplyDeleteI had to look them up, never heard of it. That's a lot of birds.
ReplyDelete