I was able to catch up with the pair of Purple Martins that look to be attempting to nest again in Hadley at Silvio Conte NWR (much more on the history of them at the refuge below). I arrived a bit before six and found Mary there monitoring them already. The two martins mainly stayed on the nesting gourds during the half hour I was there watching them with just a couple brief flights. The male was quite vocal at times and both of them entered one of the gourds multiple times (people later in the day had them bringing nesting material into the gourd). Fingers crossed the more active management plan will result in nesting success.
A little history on the Purple Martins at Silvio Conte NWR. When the fish and wildlife service first put up the nesting gourds I was highly doubtful a martin would ever use them as the species is so rare in the area and the gourds were not being actively managed. Defying my expectations a couple Purple Martins showed up starting in mid June of 2021 and were joined by a third in late June. The martins eventually had a successful nesting season with young seen in August, the first successful nesting in the area in a hundred years. One martin showed up again in the area in May of 2022 but no other martins were noted and no nesting was suspected. A similar event occurred the following year in 2023 when a lone male showed up in early May and another male showed up in early June and continued for a week plus without a mate showing up. The decision was made going into 2024 to more actively manage the gourds to try to entice martins to nest once again and this involved keeping the entrances to the gourd nests closed until a martin showed up. One finally showed up in late May and then promptly disappeared. A few more reports came in from both the refuge and nearby areas but it was not until June 10 that a pair was well documented at the nesting gourds at Silvio Conte.
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