Purple Martin Project

Best Information - The best source of online information on Purple Martins is available at the Purple Martin Conservation Association website. All our colony hardware was ordered from there too.

Current News - Purple Martins are exhibiting nesting behavior at the gourds! Bi-weekly nest checks happen on Tuesday and Saturday.

Volunteer - If you want to volunteer to help monitor the colony this year, please fill out this form and we will keep you posted.

2024

April 17 update: WE HAVE EGGS!!!!

At our Tuesday, April 16th, nest check we found 6 eggs well hidden in Gourd #9 named FRAM. The first observer thought they saw one egg and when Kim Ramos peeked in from her step ladder she was able to move some of the leaves to reveal 6 eggs total!  There are several other nests with evidence of nesting behavior, but no other eggs yet.  So keep your eye on #9 FRAM for now to see how the parents manage during this phase.  Based on the Purple Martin Conservation Association life cycle information, we can expect to see hatchlings around April 30th, and fledglings around May 25th. We will move the camera to Gourd #9 at our next nest check on Saturday 10:30am so we can get some video of the parents feeding the nestlings.

From the PMCA:

• The female Purple Martin lays one egg per day, generally in the morning, for a total of two to eight pure white eggs.  

• The average number of eggs per nest is four to six.  Incubation begins with the penultimate (second to last) egg laid.  

• Only the female can incubate the eggs because they have a brood patch, a featherless area rich in blood vessels that transfers heat to the eggs.  Males may sit on the eggs for short periods of time, but they cannot incubate the eggs.

• Incubation lasts 15-16 days, although incubation can be delayed due to weather. 

• Hatching may be spread out over two or three days. The young will fledge between 26-32 days after hatching and can receive care from both parents between one to two weeks after fledging.

March 12 update: Today's nest check revealed two gourds with oak leaves and two gourds with the nest material rearranged neatly.  

• Gourd 4 Codes - Capt G.

• Gourd 6 Codes - Hugh P.

• Gourd 9 Codes - FRAP

• Gourd 12 Codes - Louise T. 

No eggs yet, but since two nests are ready it would be prudent to start the twice weekly nest checks in case they start laying eggs tomorrow.  Last year it was almost 4 weeks between oak leaf evidence and eggs showing up, so that is a possibility. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Our season begins! The PUMA scouts were sighted last week, and we are right on time. Join us on Jan 3 for our Third Annual gourd raising at the Marine Discovery Center. At 10AM we’ll give an overview of the project, prep some nesting material, and head over to the pole. We need volunteers to monitor, so come and sign up. Click here or on the graphic for more info on our Facebook Page.

2023

June 11, 2023 Report:

Yesterday Kathy Griffin and I observed the colony and could see two fledglings out of the nest and begging to get fed.   The photo below was taken when there were 14 Purple Martins on the gourds and perches, although not all are visible.  

It was amazing how well the two fledglings could fly as the entire colony would take off at once occasionally and the fledglings went right along! Once when they took off we ran down and lowered the gourds quickly to see if the other two fledglings were still in the gourd, and they were. We are guessing they will all be out and about by our next nest check on Tuesday at 5:00pm.

This is the last Purple Martin Project Update until next season.  We had a total of 9 eggs, of which 4 hatched and 4 fledged (to be confirmed Tuesday). We also have 12 adults at the colony now including two adult males in full dark purple plumage! The colony is expected to hang out at the gourds and sleep there for a few more weeks then they will leave and start joining larger groups until they start migrating to Brazil. Kathy Griffin will remove the gourds mid-July and put them safely away till next season.

I hope they make it back next year! We gave them a good start at a great location!  See you next season!

May 30, 2023 Report:

Today when Kim and Team RWB lowered the gourds they found the four nestlings fat and healthy looking - but - the gourd was infested with mites! So Kim’s team decided to transfer the chicks from the #9 FRAM gourd to a clean unused gourd. So they switched out #9 FRAM to nearby #4 Capt Guy. 

The new clean gourd is in the same location the original nest was and Kim reported the parents returned and went inside right away.  It looks like a successful unplanned nest change. 

May 17, 2023 Report from Richard Fasse:

The good news is that our four nestlings we first saw on Saturday are thriving and wiggling away.  Kim Ramos said you can hear the babies chirping when the parents are out flying around. Liz Meredith shared the picture below and if you zoom in you can see their little feather whiskers starting to show up.  There was no visible evidence of parasites or other nest issues.

The bad news is that the nests with 2 and 3 eggs last Saturday have not hatched and based on the data we have for estimated egg age we have to conclude they never will.  Kim Ramos and her Team RWB left the eggs in the nest to let the birds deal with the situation naturally.

Meanwhile, possible good news is that Kim Ramos arrived early and took field notes on which gourds the adults were going in and out of.  Based on what she observed it is possible at least one of those pairs also knows their eggs are not viable and are setting up a second nest.

April 29, 2023 Report from Richard Fasse:

We have eggs!  Kathy Griffin lowered the gourds this morning and Marsha Cox took the picture you see below for proof.

The parents were flying around but came back and watched us lowering/raising the gourds and seemed quite fine with it. They quickly perched and checked everything out. 

3 eggs in FRAP - will say first egg was 4/27

1 egg in Louise T - will say 4/29

Nest but no egg in Kevin W

We expect hatchlings in about two weeks. They should fledge about 4 weeks after hatching. We will let this group know when there will be a gourd drop that might have hatchlings to see!  We could use a handout or flyer for visitors before we do anything public. Let me know if you want to help work on that. 

Here is an interesting article Marsha found on the egg development process in Purple Martins - happening right now inside our birds!

https://www.purplemartin.org/uploads/media/purple-martin-develo-969.pdf

March 31, 2023 Report from Richard Fasse:

This morning I observed PUMAs at the gourds and photographed one. As of yet there is no evidence of a bonded pair spending the night, just bachelors looking around. We will stop the audio. Our residents will supply the audio then! Leaving it on might attract unwanted visitors while the PUMAs are feeding. We will also remove the decoys for similar reasons. 

Early 2023: Our Purple Martin season will start mid-January and run through the end of May when they have completed fledging and begin to migrate back south.  But even before the season starts we have things that need to be worked on.  We will be recruiting observers to help record activity data on the colony this coming fall, so stay tuned for more information through our Newsletter, Facebook, and Meetup pages.  

Meanwhile, here are two projects you can help with now:  

1. This year we hope to get our first resident Purple Martins and the best tool for that is supposed to be the Dawn Song and Daytime Chatter CDs we purchased from the Purple Martin Conservation Association. It didn’t work last year but we hope to attract them this year with a robust sound system to play with more decibels.  If you are an experienced audiophile please use the Volunteer link to get in touch.  We will start running sound daily mid-January.

2. In addition to Purple Martins flying around we need signage at the site.  Right now there is nothing in place and MDC visitors walking in that area have nothing to inform them of what the racks of gourds are all about.  If you are a graphic artist or technical writer and want to help with this project, please use the Volunteer link to get in touch.

2022

We knew from data at the Purple Martin Conservation Association site that we should expect scouts to arrive mid-January. Christie Miller, the Volunteer Coordinator for Volusia County, recruited 17 potential volunteers to help prepare our 12 gourds for raising in mid-January. Members were allowed to donate $15 and have a name placed on a gourd as a fundraiser for the project.  All 12 gourds are named now.

Co-presidents Bill and Marsha Cox arranged for electrical cords to be placed down to our colony site from the Kayak Shack so we could play the Purple Martin “Dawn Song” to attract Purple Martin to the area.  Nevertheless, we were unable to attract any Purple Martin to the area this year. 

One of our members, John Kendall, has a colony up north and gave an analysis of the situation we will be facing:

“One interesting thing about starting a colony is that the SY (second year) birds return and find human-made housing within a few miles of their birth site (rarely as far as 50 miles).  I could only find 3 active colonies within 30 miles being reported to PMCA’s landlord database and my birding jaunts have shown me none. There are likely at least as many hidden or not being reported in my estimation. This means that the “pool” of prospects for the MDC site is maybe 6 colonies that might fledge a total of perhaps 50-100 birds.  Take into account the low survival rate of SY birds and we may have 20-30 young Martins over a 30 mile diameter area looking to nest as they begin to arrive as early as February. The establishment of a colony here is very important to restoring Purple Martins to this part of Florida.  The hope is that by providing a nucleus, homeowners and other organizations will take up the pass time of starting their own colonies.”

2021

In the fall of 2021 a small grant from the FPL and Florida Audubon was awarded to Southeast Volusia Audubon Society and the Marine Discovery Center for our proposal to install and monitor a Purple Martin colony at the Marine Discovery Center.  One of our members, Fred White, has an active colony in New York and helped advise us on the placement of the gourds at the MDC.  None of our active members are experienced Purple Martin landlords so this project gives us all a way to participate in the process and enjoy a Purple Martin colony we can all share. 

On Nov 11, 2021 Dr. Anna Forsman from the University of Central Florida gave our group a presentation on Purple Martins and shared photos and data on her colonies that students monitor and collect data from.  Her talk generated a lot of enthusiasm for the project. When the hardware arrived, one of our members, Dean Spears, took the hardware home and assembled it all.  Then we had a pole raising event and waited for the Purple Martin to show up. 

Find more information on Anna Forsman

Useful Links

Form for volunteers to record observations

Our Purple Martin group in Facebook

Chautauqua Demonstration

PMCA DOWNLOAD CENTER (files are in a PDF format and may be freely distributed in their current form)