Last Tuesday Rick reported in his blog (‘April 8th – After The Rain) the return of the first Purple Martin. Since then, only one Purple Martin has been a lone sentinel until yesterday when I reported a second Purple Martin (male) had returned. Today, there was excitement and the sounds of more Purple Martins returning! Carol and I counted five Purple Martins flying around the two apartments – the birds were busy popping in and out of the gourds, walking around the railing and checking out the different units in the apartments. There were three males and two females.

Strong SW winds were billowing the nets that we opened today, keeping the numbers of banded birds low. The large influx of juncos that were here yesterday were gone today as they continued their migration north on the SW winds last night. Six Common Loons were observed today and the birds were flying ….. south! The highlight was banding a beautiful male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher today.

Banded 14:
1 Mourning Dove
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 American Robin
1 Field Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
5 Brown-headed Cowbird
3 American Goldfinch

ET’s: 41

Nancy

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

Purple Martin House, with potential occupants