Purple Martins Fledged

My purple martin colony has fledged for the year, the last four hatchlings in two nests having flown in the past few days. This year I had 19 pairs of birds lay 87 eggs, 67 of which hatched (some just didn’t, a few apparently fell to predators), and 58 fledged (a few hatchlings succumbed to the heat of July, a couple to predators). This was an unusual year, no doubt affected by the early spring and summer heat. The first eggs were laid May 13, hatched May 31, and fledged June 27. The last eggs were laid a late June 29 (two days after the first hatchlings fledged), hatched July 16, and fledged August 15. They all – parents and successful youth – should be in their usual staging area south of town, where they meet up with other colonies from the area before making the migration down to Brazil, a journey I can’t imagine, though I can’t imagine flying on my own power, whatever distance, anyway. They won’t send postcards and they don’t call, but like welcoming children back home from their wanderings, I’ll still be looking forward to their return next spring, and hearing how their warm winter went.