Purple Martins Return to Licking - 2014 Season Has Begun

On Monday, March 10th at 6:40 PM, my first purple martin arrived.  He was outside screeching on the perch and I abandoned my dinner so that I could properly welcome him home.  He took to the skies and announced his arrival across the valley.  He circled and circled, telling me all about his journey and trying to find his friends.  Within a few minutes he had established that this was his home and he found and harassed an American Kestrel until it left his newly claimed territory.

Mr. C287 - can't sit still for long!

I couldn't tell for sure at first, as I had left my binoculars inside, but I noticed that his legs looked bulkier than normal.  After grabbing my binoculars, I confirmed that Mr. C287 had returned home!  This guy was banded by MRBO as an adult when he was captured in a gourd on 6/10/2012 with 3 other adult martins.  It was absolutely the highlight of our day to pull an ASY male and female and a SY male and female out of the same gourd with 5 perfect eggs that were completely unharmed.

This gourd has been claimed.

He was re-sighted at my colony last year on 4/15/2013.  And now he's back!  And making lots & lots of noise.

My 2014 season has begun and he has already drawn another 3 martins to my site.  As of 2:30 PM today, there are 4 here.  I hope you all have some housing out as the strong southerly winds and warmer weather is quickly bringing them in!