Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas

Since I was gone for 2+ weeks to AR and TX, I had no idea what I would find when I got home to peek inside the PMs' gourds.

I did a thorough nest check this afternoon.

There are 15 gourds hanging on the rack.

I am hosting 15 pairs of martins with 15 nests.

Each and every gourd has a nest. There are no bachelor pads this year!

Each and every nest has eggses!

There are a total of ... 78 Eggs!

I don't know what day(s) they started laying or incubating, so I don't know if there will be more eggs or not. I will do another nest check Monday.

Gourd 6 has the most elaborate nest. There is a mud dam; sticks and long straw stems are laid neatly in order, a foil lining is behind the eggs, and a thick pad of green leaves cushions and hydrates the six eggs.

That's great news.
Are all your birds ASY's? If you have any SY's are they banded. Bands on each leg, one silver and the other red in color. BSU researcher has identified banded birds from my colony in Bemidji. Would be nice to know of any that returned to this area. All young birds were banded at this site last year.

Hope all your birds fledge this year.

Allen, all my birds are ASYs. There may be one SY female, but she is big and burly. I'll try to get a better look at her this evening and determine her age.

I would love to hosts some of your banded birds, but no bands so far. I'll look at Mr. G's site, and the Colonel's when it's cool enough for me to be out again. I just came in from planting a very few plants, eight, and I am totally wilted.

There are so many homeless martins in the Larimore area. I see large groups of them each evening trying to squeeze their way into my colony. I wish I could get some people seriously interested in hosting a few colonies.

So, do you want to come to Larimore and band my chicks once they hatch and are old enough???

Our public sites are doing well too!

Ref. Banding

I don't band birds. The banding is a coordinated effort between MN DNR and Bemidji State University. The study is being done on colonies in Bemidji, Bagley and my site in Crookston. My colony is larger than the other colonies combined that are in the study. The researcher is thinking about doing a seperate study on only my colony. I am currently at about 80% occupied. That's up from 62% last year.

I believe the coordinator is Mike North MN DNR Non-game. He could tell you if there are any banders or assistants in our area. BSU found out about my site and decided last year to add it to their study.

It will be interesting to hear about banded birds in the area.

Al