As of yesterday's nest check, all 24 gourds are empty. They raised 98 babies this year. I was grateful that all gourds were occupied for the second straight year. I was worried back in February that the colony would take a step backward after losing 8 birds to the freeze.
This year, one nest raised no babies. This was the second nest failure in the 6 year history of this colony. Five eggs were laid and 5 hatched but no fledges. This male lost his mate in May but found a second female. On the positive side, another pair raised 8 babies.
These martins laid their eggs late and unlike the February martins, their gamble with the weather paid off. July has been almost entirely with highs in the 80s. For those of you not from Texas, that is cold.
Time to look forward to next season. Gary
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