Subject: [Tweeters] Purple Martin nest timing
Date: Jul 20 08:46:41 2010
From: stan Kostka lynn Schmidt - lynnandstan at earthlink.net


Hi Tweets,

This past Sunday morning July 18, I checked all Purple Martin nests at English Boom on Camano Island. The site has 13 pair. 5 were still on eggs, one of those clutches initiated July 11, and another even later than that, somewhere between the 12th and the 15th.

Six nests were in the process of hatching, they contained hatch day young and unhatched eggs. Two nests had slightly older young, one or two days old.

This nest timing is about two weeks later than average, and I'm curious to know how localized this may be. So, I'd be most interested to hear observations from other nesting sites, if and when anyone observes martin young being fed at nest cavity entrances, something which generally happens around two weeks of age, or so.

Hoping for good weather.

Stan Kostka
lynnandstan at earthlink.net
Arlington WA