Mark and I went to a couple of new colonies this morning and in beautiful weather we banded 34 more young Purple Martins. One of the colonies already has both young fledged and flying around and chicks that are no more than 2 days old.
This group of six is about as many as we get in a nest box usually. 4 to 5 is more typical. However...
We found a nest containing 9 eggs. We believe this might be a "dump nest" where a female has deposited her eggs in the nest of another female. This happens in other species but I haven't heard of it in Purple Martins. I'm going to do a little research to see if this is a known behavior in martins.
With a nice week ahead and only a 50-50 chance of rain Tuesday and Wednesday, I hope to get out and see something other than baby Purple Martins for a while. Good Birding everybody!
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