Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 11:54:04 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Kathy Klimkiewicz Subject: Re: PRR 4/20 (a.m.) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Purple Martins virtually never feed other than on the wing! They almost never even go to the ground except to gather nesting materials and grit. This is an exceptional sighting. Cheers, Kathy Laurel MD Steve Noyes To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Sent by: Maryland cc: Birds & Birding Subject: [MDOSPREY] PRR 4/20 (a.m.) 04/20/02 03:47 PM Please respond to Maryland Birds & Birding Fellow birders, Purple martins have arrived at the North Tract Wildlife Viewing Area martin houses at the Patuxent Research Refuge. Two males were busily defending one house against a horde of tree swallows. Several females were feeding on the ground nearby. Barn and n.rough-wing swallows were also present; a barn swallow nest has been constructed under the eaves of the old range tower along with a phoebe nest. A spotted sandpiper was feeding on one of the islands on Merganser Pond and a Canada goose was nesting on the other. A pair of bluebirds were bringing nesting material to a nest box. One of the nest boxes I monitor had a strange nest being built (the box is quite near a wood's edge). Inside the box was a thick layer of pieces of bark (looked like pine) and then covered with long pieces of broad-leaf dry grass formed into a deep cup. Any ideas? I've been monitoring boxes there for 9 years and have never seen this nest construction. Steve Noyes, Volunteer Naturalist, Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel MD noyessh@yahoo.com --------------------------------- Do You Yahoo!? ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================