With the final mass gourd cleanup completed and 2 coats of Pig Snot (my favorite car / motorcycle wax) applied to my predator baffles (which makes them super-slick!), I can now say that the Purple Martin Season of 2020 is officially closed.
We had a great Purple Martin year - 80 pair with over 305 young fledged. This year, everything seemed to get started about 2-3 weeks later than usual. On average in past years, we would normally only have 2-3 pair still trying to fledge their young around the first or second week of August. This year however, I still had around 25 pair up until August 18th. A very late season.
We had 4 confirmed kills by the Great Horned Owl - a 75% decrease over the last 6 years and that is definitely something I can live with. Last Fall, we opened up the East field even more by cutting down a few Eastern red cedar trees, and it worked - the hawk attacks were also greatly reduced. I was so relieved this year to have fewer successful attacks. While the trees were well over 150' away from the colony, in the prior years, the speedy little Sharpie and the Cooper's hawks had learned to use the trees for cover on their approach to the colony.
With a lot less stress this year from hawks & owls, it was much more fun to watch the martins fledge their young - they haven't a clue about Covid-19 and what the world is suffering through right now. But they do have their own worries - owls, hawks, bug supply, and climate change, just to name a few.
It is only after the nesting season ends and the purple martins have left for Brazil that I start to see more bugs around my yard again. Thousands of dragonflies appear, the Pennsylvania Leatherwings cover the Bidens and multiple wasp species descend on the Goldenrod.
Check out the video below, taken A view into some of the September & October bugs:
And the fields light up with a sea of yellow and purple flowers. Yes, life is good here on Gobbler's Knob.
Pennsylvania Leatherwings on Missouri Bidens |
Bumblebee with filled pollen basket on Goldenrod |
A Wasp party on Goldenrod |
Bidens, Indian grass, Goldenrod and Pickerel weed provide cover and food for insects, quail and all the other wildlife that choose to live on Gobbler's Knob. |