Purple Martins

[brewmaster15]

Purple Martins, (Progne subis) are North America's Largest Swallow. They are a really beautiful birds and though they nest in holes in trees , they also will gladly nest in Colonies if you set up multifamily housing for them . The migrate in the winter and return to the North to breed in the summer. My local birdwatching hot spot, Hammonasset State Park here in CT has an active colony that returns each year, The Colony is a Sanctuary for these birds and I really enjoy watching them. They are very challenging to photo because of their colors and iridescence , as well as their speed. Once they have chicks they are so busy getting bugs that its even harder... at best you get them perched at the bird condo holes. This year I thought I would try photographing them during nest building...

Purple martin (Progne subis) by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Purple martin (Progne subis) by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Purple martin (Progne subis) by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Sharing of the leaf Ceremony by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

Purple martin (Progne subis) by Al Sabetta, on Flickr

[Second Hand Pat]

Beautiful little guys and just try to pan on them in flight...NOT lol. Does the leaf exchange mean something Al?
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Beautiful little guys and just try to pan on them in flight...NOT lol. Does the leaf exchange mean something Al?
Pat

It was kind of Funny Pat. I watched this particular nest alot as they were closest to where I was hiding a bit. All the birds were bringing back sticks and leaves... this fellow brings back this green leaf and passes it to the female..normally they just each bring stuff in.. but he passes it to her and she then Flys off the perch with it and Drops it in the bushes about 20 feet away. I took that to mean she was not on the same page as he was as to what a nest should be made out of. I honestly have never seen that before.....so I dubbed it a "ceremony"

al

[Second Hand Pat]

It was kind of Funny Pat. I watched this particular nest alot as they were closest to where I was hiding a bit. All the birds were bringing back sticks and leaves... this fellow brings back this green leaf and passes it to the female..normally they just each bring stuff in.. but he passes it to her and she then Flys off the perch with it and Drops it in the bushes about 20 feet away. I took that to mean she was not on the same page as he was as to what a nest should be made out of. I honestly have never seen that before.....so I dubbed it a "ceremony"

al

Perfect name Al, it's funny how a pair can be out of sync with each other.
Pat