The martins are trickling in from the far south (Brazil) these days, and our colony is filling up. We had 42 cavities (gourds) last year, and we had 39 martin pair nesting and fledging babies.
For this year we added a rack, so we now have a total of 70 cavities. It’s hard to count, but my estimate is about 60 pair so far. So we’ll see if everything fills up.
For more information about Purple Martins, this is a link to the Purple Martin Conservation Association.
Good Day yesterday. Lois and I had the opportunity to witness and photograph the Total Solar Eclipse on 8/21/17. We drove south until we
were within a few miles of the center of Totality for the eclipse.
All the gear loaded up. Lois and me drove down to Summerton, SC, close to the center of the Totality line for the eclipse. Not too busy. We tried I95 first. Nope!! Stuffed with 3 mph cars. Turned around and went 15 all the way down with moderate traffic.
Started shooting at about 1:30pm, when the moon had just started to eclipse the sun. The whole session took about 3 hours.
This shot is a composite of several shots spaced apart about 15 or so minutes. The top shot is what is called “The Diamond Ring”, where the sun is just coming out of totality on the opposite side. The time limit to get this captured is about 3-4 seconds, so pay attention, and have the camera on a good tripod ready to go.
I wouldn’t miss this experience for anything. Totally amazing.
Sun’s Corona is bleeding off the edges of the moon. A few places on the right side the solar prominence is visible in pink / red.
“Diamond Ring” effect. The eclipse is just going out of totality, and the sun is peeking out on right side. This phenomenon is visible only a few seconds before the sun overpowers the camera sensor.
Starting to clear a little woods to plant a foodplot for turkey and deer this year. In the process, some extra firewood comes in handy for winter.
Pennington Durana clover is the seed of choice.
The Kubota MX5200 is doing a fine job. Love that thing.
Once we get some debris off the site, we'll be ready to fertilize and seed. We'll see how it turns out.
The season is winding down. Most of the nestlings have fledged, leaving 3 nests to fledge. We ended up having 32 pair, with around 133 eggs. We lost 8 or 9 to heat and premature nest jumping. Still, all in all a good season. I hate that we loose babies, but it is nature, and you do what you can
Last year, we had 4 nesting Purple Martin pair. This season has been like no other so far, with the first couple of martins arriving March 10. Since then, they literally poured in. Last nest check done last sunday, we had 23 nesting pair, 116 eggs and 4 babies so far. We're hoping for 30+ pair total this year. The Purple Martin sub-adult males are now showing up in force, and as usual, acting like rowdy kids.
We can finally say we have a Purple Martin colony established.
