April 18, 2019

This year thirty of the thirty six gourds were installed on 4/3/19 with the help of Sarah Coccaro, the Town’s Conservation Resource Manager.  Within a few days the year’s first purple martins were observed.  Regular weekly monitoring will shortly start to occur at the colony and anyone wishing to assist as a volunteer could contact Sarah.

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Last season was our most successful year to date. There were 18 nests in the 24 available gourds. Eighty four eggs were laid and seventy hatched. Sixty two chicks survived to fledge and leave to migrate south. In the eight years the colony has been at the Point, two hundred and seventy three eggs were laid in sixty six nests.  Two hundred and twenty of those eggs hatched and one hundred eighty six chicks fledged.

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The CT Department on Energy and Environment (DEEP) has banded one hundred and fifty two chicks on five different years. Staff and volunteers weren’t available on all years.  Plastic blue and yellow bands were placed on all Greenwich Point banded juveniles.

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Why all this effort to help out Purple Martins, the largest swallows breeding in Connecticut?  The purple martin is one of North America’s most beloved songbirds. It is known for its skillful aerial exhibitions, tolerance of humans, and pleasant twittering call.  Over thousands of years Purple Martins on the east coast have only been able to nest in man-made nests.  As a result their numbers have been declining in CT and adjacent states.  Coordinated efforts by State Wildlife Agencies, regional Audubon organizations like Audubon CT and The Connecticut Audubon Society as well as many private individuals have started to place Purple Martin houses in appropriate habitats in all the New England States. These actions have slowed the population decline.  The FoGP and the Greenwich Conservation Commission are playing an important role in reestablishing Purple Martin breeding colonies in Greenwich.