Updated PUMA report added ** New Richmond Purple Martin colony had good nesting success in 2023!

Male Purple Martin carrying food for its young at Garry Point  Park - Photo: Geoff McDonell

Female Purple Martin carrying grass to line her new nest at Garry Point Park - Photo: Geoff McDonell

Location of the Purple Martin Boxes at Garry Point Park in Richmond, BC

**Update click HERE to read our 2023 report on the city of Richmond’s PUMA nestbox project.**

Rob, John, Ilya and I set out on John's boat to clean out the Purple Martin (PUMA) nest boxes at Garry Point Park in Richmond. We had over 1900 Bradnt’s Cormorants on the ride in and few Parasitic Jaegers. When we got to the site and began cleaning out the boxes we were very happy with the new colony's success rates. There was not a single European Starling nest and most of the boxes had successfully fledged young with fully-lined nests. The Purple Martins are using Mallard feathers and long dried grass to make thick comfy nests for their young. I took a photo of one of the fully-lined nests we cleaned out from the nest box. These large swallows are much cleaner than the Tree Swallows who aren't as good at cleaning out the fecal sacs as Purple Martins.

Purple Martin nest with mallard feathers - Photo: Melissa Hafting

It isn't easy to hold a camera so high up! but here is what the nests look like inside the boxes.

I was very happy to see no dead birds, no unviable (unhatched) eggs and that all the nests used had fully fledged successfully! These birds have clutch sizes of between 3-6 birds, so if we are conservative we can estimate that at least 42 young fledged.

I will be working on the first report for the city of Richmond but the new colony in 2023 has been a success! I am still in shock these birds took to the colony so well and SO FAST! By early July we had at least 8 pairs nesting! We only put the boxes up in March 2023! My high count on adult birds was 30 birds this summer. We can only hope that more will take up residence in the upcoming years. The proximity to the colony at Reifel and the large  marsh area of the west dyke with what appears to be lots of insects near Finn Slough for them to forage in I believe helped to make a recipe to success.

Rob Lyske cleaning out a Purple Martin nest box at Garry Point Park - Photos: Melissa Hafting

These Purple Martins were very aggressive in defending their nests and this probably helped keep out the Starlings and House Sparrows. My friend Geoff McDonell actually caught a brave male chasing away a Peregrine Falcon this summer at Garry Point!

Purple Martin defending its nest from a Peregrine Falcon at Garry Point - Photo: Geoff McDonell

Thanks to Rob Lyske, John Reynolds and Ilya Povalyaev for their help in cleaning out the boxes and to John for the excellent transportation. Thanks to Rob Lyske for making and helping me install the boxes and thank you to the City of Richmond (who put up PUMA info signs with QR codes and funded this project) and also to the feds at DFO and ECCC for their support on my PUMA project and allowing me to erect the boxes on their lands.

Comments

  1. Paul ClaphamOctober 16, 2023 at 10:48 AM

    They must have been foraging quite widely: I was walking in Pacific Spirit Park (60-year old coniferous forest) and Merlin told me it could hear Purple Martin calls. There must be good insects over the forest too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Melissa HaftingOctober 20, 2023 at 2:40 PM

      yes I am always surprised when I see where PUMA turn up! In oregon they have documented them nesting quite far inland in natural cavity forests

      Delete
  2. LonelytravellerOctober 16, 2023 at 9:07 PM

    Congratulations on this wonderful achievement and the amazing work for conservation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Melissa HaftingOctober 20, 2023 at 2:40 PM

      thank you it is nice to have so much success with them within the first year!

      Delete
  3. KarenOctober 17, 2023 at 8:36 PM

    Great news! So happy that the first year has been such a success!

    ReplyDelete
  4. MikeOctober 24, 2023 at 11:00 AM

    This is truly fantastic news Mel! Kudos!

    ReplyDelete
  5. DebbiNovember 14, 2023 at 11:59 PM

    What a great success story for Purple Martins, Melissa! Thanks to your vision, hard work, and your teams volunteer efforts! When ideas become actions, and translate into positive results, its a truly inspiring & amazing "job well done!"

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Dowitcher Identification

Image
Birders notoriously find it difficult to tell Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers apart. I have got a request to do an identification explanation on them so here goes, I hope it will be helpful. Short-billed Dowitchers and Long-billed look so similar. Using their habitat is helpful but not diagnostic. Short-billed Dowitchers tend to prefer Salt water and brackish water and Long-billed Dowitchers tend to prefer fresh water. However, I have OFTEN seen Short-billeds in freshwater and Long-billeds in brackish and salt water. Therefore, DO NOT rely on habitat. Another feature many people will tell you to rely on is spotting on the side of the flanks of Short-billeds and barring on the side of Long-billeds. Usually this is a mark that you can use but it is not always as distinct as you like. I have seen Short-billeds with a barred appearance to the flanks. It is only at the side of the breast where you have to look for this diagnostic feature for the spots on a Short-billed and t
Read more

Hawk Identification Tips from every angle (Sharpie vs Cooper and Red-tailed Subspecies)

Image
I get several questions about the difference between accipiters. The most common ones are between Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks and between Cooper's Hawks vs Northern Goshawks (to a lesser degree). Next, I get many questions dealing with a certain race of buteos the Western Red-tailed Hawk and Harlan's. So I thought I would do a post on these to help answer those questions. I will deal with Cooper's and Sharpies and not Goshawks because they are much more common here and look much more alike. My friend John Reynolds inspired me to write this up. COOPER'S AND SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS EYE COLOUR - YELLOW OR ORANGE? RED? Normally a juvenile Cooper's hawk has a bright yellow eye and a Juvie Sharpie has a orange eye but some cooper's can have a dull yellow eye that looks a bit orangish. Cooper's Hawks usually only transition to the orange eye colour when they are sub adults, so in good light, it's a very very reliable feature. However you
Read more

STINT IDENTIFICATION

Image
As per request, here are some tips that I hope will be helpful in identifying and differentiating Red-necked Stint from Little Stint. I will also do a brief intro on Long-toed and Temminck's Stint... if you build it they will come right?đŸ˜‰ Red-necked and Little Stints look very much alike in worn breeding plumage. The amount of Red on the face, throat and breast in Red-necked Stint is vary variable). They look even more alike in non-breeding plumage, that is why it is essential to learn structural differences to separate the two. They are similar to Semipalmated Sandpipers as well as Sanderlings. Both species are often confused for Red-necked Stints. Little Stints rarely get confused with Sanderling because they have a hind toe which helps differentiate it from this species. Sanderlings in breeding or worn breeding are usually confused with Red-necked Stints but they are much larger than Red-necked Stints. Let's first start with Bills in this complicated ID proces
Read more

*Updated - The most famous Red-tailed Hawk is eating fish on the ground just like a Bald Eagle!

Image
Update - There are plans in the works to make a documentary film on this young Red-tailed Hawk who thinks he's an Eagle. You can read the latest news about that on CBC HERE . Watch this incredible footage of the little Red-tailed Hawk who grew up in a family of three Eaglets and 2 Bald Eagle Parents. He is imprinted now on Bald Eagles. He looks and acts just like one, as you can see here in the video below. He is standing over a large salmon carcass, just like a Bald Eagle would and he's eating the decaying flesh. Red-tailed Hawks like to eat voles and rabbits etc. not fish! Imprinting is usually irreversible according to raptor expert David Bird. However, I hope it's reversible so that he doesn't attempt to mate with a Bald Eagle, as the Eagle would kill him because it would view him as a Hawk. Eagle expert David Hancock said that the bird will likely starve and get killed by an eagle. He said this possibly can be prevented if someone grabs it and takes it to O
Read more

*UPDATED* The First Ever Black Birders Week May 31-June 5th

Image
By now you have probably heard about the racist Canadian-born White woman who did a racist attack on a Black birder named Christian Cooper in Central Park in NYC. All he asked was for her to leash her dog in a on-leash dog area. If you haven't heard of this story you can watch the video and read about it HERE . It's a vile video of a vile person who knew her White privilege and used it as a weapon against this man.  We all know that in America many Black people especially Black men are killed by police for no reason at all but the colour of their skin. A good example is George Floyd who was killed by a police officer (while 3 other cops looked on) for what they said was a possible 20$ forged bill. The White police officer put a knee on his neck on camera for over 8 mins until he died, despite having the victim completely restrained, begging for mercy and not being able to breathe. Only one police officer was charged and not for 1st degree murder but third and manslaught
Read more