Missouri Purple Martins - A Mid-Season Update

All the native wildflowers are in bloom, creating a fantastic palette of colors and fragrances and drawing in a variety of bugs - aka, "bird food".

Sensitive Briar

While some areas have suffered from drought and a lack of food for their purple martins, the deeper roots of our native wildflowers and grasses have resulted in blooms everywhere, attracting many varieties of bees, butterflies and other insects that I can't even identify.  Our birds are having a field day.  Literally....

Purple Coneflower

Indian Pink

Ohio Horsemint, Bee Balm and Butterfly milkweed

The variety of bugs the purple martins are bringing in are fascinating.  The best ID of the insect in the picture below that I could come up with is "Great Purple Hairstreak".  If anyone has a better ID, please let me know.

We have reached the part of the season where not only are the temperatures starting to soar, but the number of housekeeping chores for my birds as well.  One of the things I've learned about being a purple martin landlord is that if I do the required nest changes at the right times (ie, nestlings 12-16 days old), to rid the martin nests of their bedbugs, then I'll have less "jumpers".  Jumpers as in dehydrated, underfed and mite-stressed nestlings. This is the part of the season that I both love & hate - I HATE the heat, but I LOVE the experience and knowing I'm really doing something that contributes to the future health of mine and my neighbor's colonies.
From the PMCA website:

Tests conducted by the PMCA in the late 1980’s showed that only 44% of martin  nestlings in parasite-infested nests survived to fledging age, compared to 84% in parasite-free nests. The man who conducted those tests, James  R.  Hill,  III, stated, “The  difference might actually have been greater than what was measured, because the young raised in the absence of parasites seemed fat and healthy, and probably had a higher-than-average first-year survival rate, whereas the young subjected to parasites seemed thin and often sickly, making them less likely to survive after fledging.”

Read more here at the PMCA site about Nest Changes: https://www.purplemartin.org/uploads/media/how-why-to-do-nest-r-332.pdf

As of June 19th, I had 57 nests that needed a nest change. Yes, 57 nests.  I currently have 76 pairs (3 new since June 15th!), so a whopping 75% of all my nests need changing.  At first, I was shocked.  Then I was kind of thrilled. Then I was kind of overwhelmed.  In 95+ degree weather.  All due on the same day. This is the first season I've had where the majority of my nestlings are all around the same age at this point in the season.  The nightly return of fledges is going to be thrilling...and will also require some monitoring to deter hawk predation.

Taking an Evening Break - Purple Martins bathing at the pond.

With the heat index around 102 degrees (real temps around 92-93), I started on my first rack on 6/20 (12 nests out of 18 on that rack). When I lowered them, my eyes immediately zeroed in on 3 gourds that were almost grey-colored due to the overwhelming number of mites. I had to wonder how many of those rained down on me when I was lowering my racks.
Here is what a gourd looks like when it's overloaded with mites. You have to wonder, how can they even sleep at night with all those mites??

Troyer Horizontal gourd covered with an explosion of mites.
Special thanks to Betty Farthing Grigg on the PMCA Forum for the use of the photo above.

Special thanks to Courtney Rousseau of the North Carolina Purple Martin Group for providing the video below of a gourd infested with mites!

Nevertheless, I pushed through and with alcohol wipes and a cold-water hose, I managed to survive, even though it took almost 2 hours for my head and my body to cool back down.

Thankfully, the last 3 days have been a lot cooler as I worked through the remaining racks. After the first 2 racks, I was thrilled to find that only 2 nests out of 36 had lost a total of 2 nestlings.  The rest were very fat and healthy.  Even my 2 nests with 7 nestlings in the first two gourd racks were doing exceptionally well. Yesterday, when I finished up the nest changes on my last rack, I concluded that I have "fat baby syndrome" and it's consistent across all my racks. It also indicated to me that while I had initially lost a few martins at the beginning of the season - probably some to the owl and some to the hawks - the majority of my nests have 2 parents that are keeping up with the grocery shopping.  I did find one nest with 4 dead young, so I suspect the owl / hawks got both parents of those. Fortunately, it was only one. I also had mixed feelings over discovering 2 new nests with 4 & 5 eggs respectively. They will be hatching around July 5th or so and probably not fledging until end of July / beginning of August, meaning another extended season for me.
So, total pairs - 76 with currently 360 nestlings!  Hoping to maintain something close to that over the next few weeks.

Nest Change Tips:

1. Dabbing a small amount of vanilla extract around your eyes, nose and mouth will help keep the gnats away from those areas of your face.

2.  Check your tool box before you start your nest changes to ensure you will have the needed equipment within easy reach. The last thing you want to do is go digging around to find something while you're simultaneously swatting at mites & bugs and the sun is overheating your brain!

3. Soak 6-8 paper towels with 91% rubbing alcohol, store in a Ziploc bag and add them to your tool box. These will be handy for wiping down your hands, arms and the gourds when there are just more mites than you can bear.

4. Your son's old white, light-weight, big & baggy karate pants make excellent nest-check pants! They are cool, loose and you can kneel on the ground without all the itchy grass tickling your leg.

5. Always assume that whatever you touch after nest changes are completed will also become contaminated with mites until you thoroughly wash your hands and arms.  Filling a large bucket with water and a having a bar of soap nearby will provide you with some much-needed relief after a round of nest changes.

Check out this post from 2016 for a more detailed list of the tools in my tool kit:  http://kathyfreeze.blogspot.com/2016/05/nest-check-season-begins-and-sub-adults.html

The Incredible, Edible Egg Shell

After finding my purple martins raiding my compost pile two years ago and picking out the egg shells, I decided to start using egg shells instead of the crushed oyster shell that I had been offering for years.  With a 75-pair colony, I now save egg shells year round.  I sometimes feel like Forest Gump when I'm deciding what's for breakfast; fried eggs, boiled eggs, poached eggs, eggs Benedict and so on.  Regardless of the form they take, we love them and nothing goes to waste here in the Ozarks!  During the spring and summer, our local barn swallows, tree swallows, purple martins, blue birds and sometimes I think every other bird in the county comes to my egg shell trays to partake of the remains of my breakfasts!

The first year I started using egg shells, I visited one of our local restaurants to ask them to save a few buckets of egg shells from their morning breakfasts.  I live in the country, so the local breakfast joints are very small and full of old-timers.  I got some very strange looks and a lot of questions when I was asking them to save the egg shells for me and I noticed some of them looking at each other with a knowing glance as if to say, "she's feeding egg shells to birds?".  If you're not afraid of being categorized as *special*, your local restaurants are certainly a good source of a large supply of egg shells to get you started.

Eggshells are an excellent source of grit and calcium, but chicken eggs may harbor the salmonella bacteria so, I always wash and prepare the egg shells according to the PMCA guidelines here.  One of the most frequently-asked question this time of year is "When should I put out the eggshells for the birds"?  The answer is, "As soon as they arrive".

Left - my Tupperware freezer container; Right - 1 gallon Ziploc baggie full of egg shells.  After preparing the egg shells, I store them in the freezer all year just to make sure no bacteria can grow on them.

Why do birds need calcium?
Every female mother in every species on earth experiences calcium depletion of her body when giving birth.  It's no different for purple martins.  The female martins already have a tougher time than the males, often experiencing multiple copulations, egg-laying and finally, brooding the eggs for hours and days on end.  All of this will sap her energy and her own calcium storage in her bones.  The crystalline layer of her eggs (the shell), which is responsible for its mechanical strength, consists of more than 90% calcium in the form of calcium carbonate.  Calcium is absorbed from the food in the intestine.  Thus, you can see why she needs replacement calcium to help properly both form and strengthen her eggs and keep her own bones strong.  I've also observed my purple martins, males and females alike, taking crushed egg shells in to feed their young.

Providing birds with supplemental calcium helps them produce stronger egg shells and nestlings.

According to this reference:  "The diet of a particular species of bird may play a role in determining whether the species will seek supplemental calcium. For example, insects are low in calcium; therefore, birds such as swallows that eat primarily insects probably need to find additional sources of calcium. BCaP results suggest this is true. Although they’re not typical feeder visitors, 10 percent of the swallows that came to yards took shells."

How to Offer Supplemental Calcium:
You can offer calcium in either a platform feeding tray or spread out on the ground.  This site recommends the following: "The Lab's Birds and Calcium Project determines we should offer calcium on the ground and on platform feeders".
I tend to agree.  I prefer to offer them in a platform feeder for my martins as I once had a hawk attack a female that was on the ground eating egg shells.  He grabbed her before she could take off.  Fortunately, he dropped her when I ran across the yard and scared the heck out of him, but my lesson that day was to move their calcium up to a height where they could more quickly take off if attacked by a predator.

My tray is simply a drip tray from a plastic planter that I purchased at Lowe's.  I drilled multiple small holes around the bottom edges so that water can drain out.  Then I mounted a shelter over the tray so the rain wouldn't wash all the shells out.

Here's a video of my purple martins using the egg shells mixed with crushed oyster shells.

Egg shells are not the only source of calcium that you can offer.  You can also purchase 50 lb. bags of crushed oyster shell here in Missouri at your local MFA stores.  My last bag lasted me almost 3 years, but as I mentioned, my martins show a distinct preference for the egg shells.
Offering calcium to purple martins is listed as one of the potential attraction techniques.  Having a ready-supply of calcium nearby certainly can't hurt your chances of attracting them and it's a cheap and easy thing to do, so why not try it? 

Purple Martin Banding in Missouri - 2014

Since 2011, Missouri River Bird Observatory (MRBO) has banded over 3300 Purple Martins across Missouri, including St. Louis-Forest Park, Marshall, etc.  Of those 3300, 725 were banded at my site here in Licking.  While that number includes a few adults, the majority of the bands were placed on 11 to 24 day-old nestlings.  To date, I have resighted approximately 24 of those banded adults and returning juveniles as SY (sub-adult) birds at my site, along with one at a friend's site 6 miles north and one at my aunt's site located about 8-9 miles north.

One of many nestlings banded in 2013

Of those 24 resightings, some were seen again only one following season while a smaller number of them were seen at my site for multiple seasons now.  This year, due to multiple factors beyond our control, we have decided to not band any nestlings at my colony.  The good news however, is that I am now a licensed bander, sub-permitted under Dana Ripper at MRBO and I am planning a 2014 project to do some educational outreach and travel to some of the landlords' colonies whom I mentor around this area to band their nestlings.

As the martin flies, my aunt's place is approximately 8-9 miles from my site.

I think it would be interesting to find out how many of your birds are returning to your colony each year and how many are dispersing to other surrounding sites, such as mine.  There are some requirements that need to be met in order for me to accomplish this though and I will need your help and commitment if you are interested in having your birds banded.

It could take awhile for the bird to land in just the right position, but if a good quality photograph could be taken, it could be blown up on the computer to try to get a band reading.

First and foremost, I need to know if you will be willing to resight birds during the next martin season.  I will be honest with you and tell you up front that it does take some time.  The birds aren't always cooperative when you're trying to read their bands and many times, you find yourself in an awkward position in your yard (like standing-on-your-head-awkward) and chasing a bird around your site to get the reading.  But it can be quite fun and exciting when you realize this was one of *your* kids from last year.  I find it quite fun and relaxing to settle into a comfortable chair with a good quality pair of binoculars right smack in the middle of my colony and watch for bands (a good hat is a must-have for obvious reasons).  A spotting scope is a bonus and makes it even easier.  For landlords that are quite close to me, I would be willing to bring my spotting scope over to read the numbers on the band, once you have identified a banded bird at your colony.

Prerequisites for Banding:
1. You must have housing that can be vertically raised and lowered and opened so that you can perform weekly nest checks and which would allow us to safely get the nestlings down for banding.
2. You must perform weekly nest checks from the start of egg-laying.  Two reasons for this:  1) we'd be able to tentatively schedule the banding day by knowing when your first eggs would hatch and estimating when the nestlings would be at least 11 days old or older and; 2) we would know the location and expected number of nestlings in your colony that we could band.
3. As mentioned above, a willingness to watch your colony for bands in the 2015 season is required.

Please feel free to contact me at purplemartin@centurytel.net and let me know if you're a Missouri landlord who is interested in having your purple martins banded!