Purple Martin Hatchlings

This has been an early year for all things spring and summer, and my purple martin colony has been no exception. The birds showed up this year a couple of weeks before last year, and the first eggs were laid about ten days or so before last year. What’s surprised me most was that my first hatchlings came today, one nest a day before they were scheduled and a second six days before scheduled, and both a full two weeks before the first hatchlings last year. I wondered whether this year or last year was the unusual one, but looking back at earlier records, I see that the end of May (today) is a more typical first laying day, not a first hatching day. I assume that this is because of the unusually mild winter and early and warm spring. But was there an early start to the fall in South America where the birds spend the (our) winter that triggered an early return? Or did they somehow know that we were having a mild winter and early spring? And if so, how? But then how does this whole migration thing over thousands of miles from one specific location in Brazil to another in Iowa City year after year happen so regularly and precisely? I suppose there are answers that I could find if I wanted to. But I prefer the surprise and magic of opening the gourds and finding the first white eggs, and then later the first pink chicks, their yellow-rimmed beaks, as large as their tiny bodies, spread wide and begging as if I had something to offer other than just recording their hatching. Their parents perch on a wire nearby, watching as I make my count, unconcerned. They recognize me, trust me, some themselves being counted last year.