The Birds & The Bees: February 2023

Fellow purple martin landlord extraordinaire, John Miller (St. Louis) found the cute picture below and recently shared it on the PMCA Forum. It was just the motivation I needed to get back to writing on my blog. Well, that and a couple of messages from long-time readers.

I took some time off from writing for a bit to focus on some other things. But, as time has gone on, I've realized how much I've missed it and how cathartic writing is for me. What better topic to kick my blog off again than the imminent Purple Martin 2023 season in Missouri!

Reports are coming in from many southern states that they many sites are actually spotting them much earlier than in prior seasons. Knowing that information, yesterday, Feb. 25th, it was 60 degrees here and winds were blowing from the south - literally, the exact conditions that have predicted their return every year. I thought for sure I would see one but thankfully, I didn't.

Checking my records, my earliest arrival happened on February 28th, 2016. As I looked at the forecast for the rest of this week, I'm a little concerned they may think it's a great time to mosey their way on up to Gobbler's Knob and confirm their reservations. While it is always exciting and heartwarming to see them arrive, Missouri weather is so danged unpredictable and while I have my colony trained to accept supplemental feeding, it's not my favorite thing to have to do.

Speaking of supplemental feeding, I checked my favorite supplier last week - Rainbowmealworms.com, and they are once again OUT of my favorite cricket size (1"). So annoying. It seems we are still suffering the stupid side affects of Covid - 3 years later.

I haven't seen a tree swallow yet either - normally I see one or two of them arrive with a purple martin in tow. I like to imagine that they met somewhere over the Gulf and teamed up to make the journey north to my site.

My wonderful husband has made sure that I have plenty of housing on hand. How cute is this house??

TRES nest box with slot entrance and bird spikes to prevent owls from landing on the box.

What IS bringing me joy right now is the fact that our local bluebird population appears to be rebounding from the devastating impact of the Polar Vortex of 2021. Remember that? I didn't see any bluebirds that year, and had only one breeding pair last year. From the numbers of them frequenting my yard this year so far, it looks like we will have a much better bluebird year.