Aging Nestlings

One of the components to be comming a successful landlord is keeping written records so you can learn as much about the very bird we are trying to help. One valuable piece of information you can obtain by checking nests is the actual age of a nestling, and the actual hatching date of that particular nestling. The age of a nestling can be determined by comparing the nesting with laminated nestling photos (available from the PMCA http://www.purplemartin.org/). This way, you can determine the actual hatching day and the earliest possible fledge date using the Purple Martini Prognosticator (also available from the PMCA) of that particular nest. If nestlings are missing from a nest before the earliest possible fledge date, those young have been unsuccessful. However, if young are missing from the nests AFTER the earliest fledge date, they likley fledged successfully.

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