Purple Martin Hatchlings!
And just like that we have at least 3 purple martin chicks! I just posted an update that we had eight eggs. Now we have no more than five! Today Kate called me at work to tell me the kids found a shell in the yard. I immediately suspected the worst that maybe a House Sparrow and pinned (cracked) one of the eggs. To my surprise there was no such tragedy and we had the two chicks shown! That said we now have only 22 days to enjoy the birds before we have to leave the nest undisturbed. Why 22 days? Well somewhere recently I read that is the magic time when the chicks will be strong enough to flee and that lowering the birdhouse can spook the birds and lead to disaster. That means we have roughly 5 nest checks we can do between now and then. In the meantime I hope Mother Nature is kind to the birds...no sparrows, no starlings and hopefully the heat won't be too bad.
