Friday, May 18, 2018

Purple Martins: 3-27-18




Fight



Territories are defended vigorously.  If an intruder is persistent, fights may occur, sometimes becoming quite violent.  It’s not uncommon to see two males, feet locked in midair, fall all the way to the ground in a heated battle.  During these fights, they give frequent “see-hee” calls and sometimes peck at each other repeatedly.  Fighting males have the ability to inflict serious harm to each other, and sometimes males will even be killed as the result of these territorial skirmishes.  Thankfully, more often the fight is brief and ends with each martin flying back to the gourds.  The victor, which is usually the defender, will sing loudly from his territory.


Handsome male








Taking extra nesting material back to its gourd.








Female on her porch












No comments:

Post a Comment