We stopped off at the Purple Martin colony at Lemon Creek Park on Staten Island yesterday for the first time in four years. Glad to see the birds are still returning. There were fledglings out and about, and, judging from parents still entering nests regularly, nestlings to be fed.
There are at least a half dozen Purple Martin nests in the houses; counting is complicated by all the coming and going. House Sparrows and European Starlings have taken a good number of the nest spots. In Birds of the New York Area (1964), Ball cites a long study that marked a single pair of nesting Purple Martins at Princess Bay* (which Lemon Creek feeds into) in 1917. Then nothing until 1951, when 2 pairs nested. In 1961 there were 50 pairs. *"Princess Bay" is found on older maps, but it is now more generally called "Prince's Bay." Happy 4th! Matthew Backyard and Beyond https://matthewwills.com We stopped off at the Purple Martin colony at Lemon Creek Park on Staten Island yesterday for the first time in four years. Glad to see the martins are still returning. There were fledglings out and about, and, judging from parents still entering nests regularly, nestlings to be fed. There are at least a half dozen nests in the houses; counting is difficult with all the activity. House Sparrows and European Starlings have taken a good number of the nest holes. In Birds of the New York Area, Ball cites a single pair of nesting martins at Princess Bay (which Lemon Creek feeds into) a century ago. Then nothing until 1951, when 2 pairs nested. In 1961 there were 50 pairs. *"Princess Bay" is found on older maps, but it is now more generally called "Prince's Bay." Happy Fourth! Matthew Backyard and Beyond https://matthewwills.com -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
