martins start making their nest

Building a nest is an "activity" rather than a "chore" for the martins and it's a great deal of fun to watch...

In the first few days of arrival, the male and female breeding pairs are formed. This matchmaking continues for about 4 -6 weeks, while the birds continue to arrive and females select their mates. After pairs are formed in this courtship period, the nest building takes place and lasts for approximately 3-4 weeks.

Watch for these unique behaviors:

Males usually initiate the construction and the females are most likely to finish. Seems that the males attention span wanders easily. Sometimes it's hard for him to even get nest material half way up to the nest. However, the females apparently pay attention (or get aggravated), start helping and end up doing most of the work- Go figure!

For the first few days the martins are focused on building, then work tapers and sometimes stops. When restarting their efforts, for the most part, building activity is less intense.

It is a "catching" activity. If one pair starts constructing, others seem to follow the lead.

Near the time of egg laying and copulation, males will start gathering "green" leaves to line the nest.

Copyright © 1998-2008 Jeffry Blair.