They're Back: Purple Martin Scouts Arrive to Spruced up Homes

During my lunch break today, I spotted three purple martins circling the retention ponds in front of our school. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.

Just this past week 6th grade Native Plants and Animals students lowered the four housing units and cleaned them. Among the detritus students found the remains of two young martins.

This is a slightly lower motality rate than I reported in a previous posting.

We were a bit late getting to our spring cleaning. Nature's calendar and the school calendar don't always sync up so well. The rule of thumb that I have heard many times is to have the houses cleaned out before Valentine's Day.

Most of what we removed was mud, grass, leaves, and feathers.

This load is headed for our compost pile.

For our area the recommended housing style is the polygourd.

Last season most of all the compartments in both housing types were occuppied so we decided to leave the older metal ones up as well. They are a bit beat up. Some are missing their doors. We were able to straighten up the loose ones.

The units raise and lower like sails and flags for cleaning and making observations.

It took us two class periods, but the task is complete.

Prior to the cleaning sessions, we took notes on their characteristics, traced their images, and looked at Internet videos to hear their songs and calls. We also viewed footage of the massive gatherings that have become an annual August event at Highland Mall.