Purple Martin Breeding Time

For the second day in a row, I have had to rescue a female purple martin who had been forced down in the wet grass by several, hormone-driven male martins.  It's mating season here on Gobbler's Knob and across several states.  With the rains and dew making the grass and grounds very wet, it's important to keep an eye out for females whose feathers have become so wet that they can't take off.  They are extremely susceptible to hawk attacks and racoons if left on the ground overnight.  You can often determine that one is down by just observing your colony - watch for multiple males landing on one spot on the ground or flying over that same spot many times.
If you find a downed female in your yard, use a towel to toss over her when trying to catch her - this will help calm the colony as you retrieve her as well as stopping her from trying to flop across the grass to get away from you.  Put some pine needles in a 5-gallon bucket, per her in and cover the bucket with a towel and a board across the towel (to keep her from flying out inside your warm room).  Place her in a warm environment and as my friend Louise Chambers (PMCA) reminded me this morning, you can turn a heating pad on low setting and place it under the bucket - that's key - do not place it in the bucket.

If you'd like to read more about multiple forced-pair copulations, Steve Kroenke has written an extensive post about it on the PMCA forum here:  http://purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=339&highlight=copulation