That is such sad news about the mama PM. I was hoping you had just missed seeing her.

It sure sounds like an exciting time around your house with those fledglings. Aren't they fun!!! Please keep sharing the event with us through posting here. You tell what happens so vividly that it is easy to picture it in my mind. I'm thoroughly enjoying it and I know others are too.

When we lived " out in the country " we had a PM house. It wasn't gourds, but was a house looking house that held either 12 or 16 homes. I can't remember which. I need to look for some old pictures. Where we live now the houses are so close together and our yard really isn't large enough to have room for one. I miss sitting at the kitchen table and watching them. I left specific instructions about them for the people who bought our house as well as instructions about the bluebird houses and the hummingbird feeders. I also told them about the feral cats in the pasture next door and practically begged them to feed them. They agreed to do everything. I sure hope they were people of their word.

Linda

Wow how exciting. It is interesting how the different species all do things differently. The Blues wont allow any other birds around for fledging, the babies never return to the box but stay in the area for weeks. The Tree Swallows usually have company assisting them. The babies come Zooming out like pro fliers and leave the area, if I am lucky I see them come back for a day or two before they take off for migration. I didn't know the Martins would stay and roost and how lucky for Pop to have help. I am so sorry about your Mom, surley she would have been there for the fledge. Do they just hang around until all the babies have made it out and leave or do they stick around until migration? I am really considering hosting them but have much to learn first.

I was hoping Mama would show up too!
It is so much fun watching young birds and I know you've gone to lots of work for it, but darn you're lucky to have the birds eye view! LOL

Lisa, how exciting!

Purple Martins need every informed and dedicated landlord they can get to keep them from the brink of extinction. As do all our native bluebirds, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and other cavity nesters so threatened and decimated by lack of habitat and predation by EHSs and EUST (non-native European House Sparrows and European Starlings).

If you could manage even a colony of only four gourds, or the large (new specs) 4 house colony, it would do wonders for the species in your area. I always try to encourage new "landlords" to go slow, study everything, and start with fewer, but much larger cavities, such as the gourds or houses with 7"x7"x12" compartments.

The ASYs and SYs I referred to with the martins are just more Martins. The initials refer to their age/breeding/plumage status.

Yes, PMs will allow other PMs to help feed their young. Sometimes the SY males help feed; sometimes they just harass the nestlings, hoping to encourage the female to renest with them. They little home-wreckers!

The martins don't mind when the doves, gold finches, hummingbirds (!), etc. perch on the rack. They fight with the Tree Swallows; I can send you info on how to manage Tree Swallows and Bluebirds so you can have one pair of each, nesting in harmony about 50 ft. from a PM colony. That stops the fighting and everyone wins.

My pair had a couple knock-down drag-outs with the wrens, but since the wrens now have a box near the large white spruce tree, everyone is happy once again. Next year the wrens will be in the back yard. Since they, too, are native birds, it takes careful management, but they can be safely and legally persuaded to move. Had my colony been full of breeding pairs, or even half-full; the wrens would have never ventured up there. Since I'm began all over in a new location this year, and had only one pair, I've had extra problems, more challenges, and even more interaction with them. It's been a great year.

The fledglings will stay around and sleep in the gourds for a couple weeks, or longer. If I had a "full" colony they'd hang around, with their parents, until all the chicks were fledged and the entire colony was ready to begin the migration together. It's a wonderful pandamonium when several nests are fledging.

Grackles, the messy, noisy things can be a big help to a PM colony, too. We have only a few pair here during the summer, hundreds during the short spring and fall migrations, and none in the winter. When I hear the PMs' "HAWK" scream (once you hear it you'll never mis-understand it again!) all the martins in the area swarm high and fast. Hot on their heels are the grackles and everyone attacks the hawk. He won't stand a chance. I've not seen a grackle in two months, except for the couple of times a hawk passed by; then I see dozens.

You can email me through "My Page" if you want to talk about PMs. I can share what's worked for my birds. Check out the PMCA; they have all sorts of PDF links on the bottom of their main page. That's a great place to start.

Linda...how big is your yard and how close are the neighbors? Is there an open area, at least 50' from very large trees? Are your neighbors nature-minded? You might have room for a small house or gourd rack, if you were so inclined. Do you have power lines? How do they run from your house. Martins like to use them as perching areas if they are close to the rack. As long as the lines don't pass right over your car, there will not be any "mess" problem. My birds perch only on the gourd rack (no power lines here). PMs feed on the wing and range up to 10 miles away. They're never on the ground or perching on furniture, plants, etc. They don't even land in the trees except when they are building their nests and need green leaves to line them. They're stickly birds of the air, they even drink their water on the wing while skimming above ponds or lakes.

Here is a link that might be useful: PMCA