Possible new Martin colony - Frenchboro

[Matthew Gilbert]

On a trip with the Acadia Birding Festival on Frenchboro/Long Island this afternoon we came across a couple of Purple Martins, and possibly the beginnings of another colony. There were two adult Females repeatedly visiting a martin house in front of a home in the harbor. They acted like they might have been delivering food (disappeared into the hole for 5 seconds and then flew off every couple minutes), but we were far enough away that we couldn't tell if they were actually carrying food. We saw no males. If confirmed, this would represent the first recorded colony in Hancock Co., and add to the 6 active colonies in the state. We didn't discover them until 10 minutes before the boat came to take us back, so it's definitely worth an investigation to confirm breeding and the presence of a colony!

Digiscoped photos by Magill: https://ebird.org/checklist/S89737729 

-Matthew Gilbert

[Matthew Gilbert]

First *recent* recorded colony in Hancock. Based on P. Vickery's book there have been none since at least 1978, but I'd imagine that there were probably some before that when Martins were more common in the state.