Mathew, This dates are when Howard Cleaves set up the houses. He had his first colony in his front yard on Purdy Place in 1917 but took it down when he left Staten Island. Upon his return in the early 1950's, Cleaves once again set up houses but this time put them on Johnston Terrace where they have been since their construction. Beside a two-three year period in the early 2000's there have been at least a few pairs there every year.
The proper name for the area is indeed Prince's Bay... named for which English prince was around at the time it was named. Princess Bay is an incorrect monicker resulting from poor annunciation. Sent from my iPhone > On Jul 4, 2017, at 1:12 PM, Matthew Wills <matthewwi...@earthlink.net> wrote: > > We stopped off at the Purple Martin colony at Lemon Creek Park on Staten > Island yesterday for the first time in four years. Glad to see the birds are > still returning. There were fledglings out and about, and, judging from > parents still entering nests regularly, nestlings to be fed. > > There are at least a half dozen Purple Martin nests in the houses; counting > is complicated by all the coming and going. House Sparrows and European > Starlings have taken a good number of the nest spots. > > In Birds of the New York Area (1964), Ball cites a long study that marked a > single pair of nesting Purple Martins at Princess Bay* (which Lemon Creek > feeds into) in 1917. Then nothing until 1951, when 2 pairs nested. In 1961 > there were 50 pairs. > > *"Princess Bay" is found on older maps, but it is now more generally called > "Prince's Bay." > > Happy 4th! > > Matthew > > Backyard and Beyond > https://matthewwills.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > We stopped off at the Purple > Martin colony at Lemon Creek Park on Staten Island yesterday for the first > time > in four years. Glad to see the martins are still returning. There were > fledglings > out and about, and, judging from parents still entering nests regularly, > nestlings to be fed. There are at least a half dozen nests in the houses; > counting is difficult with all the activity. House Sparrows and European > Starlings have taken a good number of the nest holes. > > > > In Birds of the New York Area, Ball > cites a single pair of nesting martins at Princess Bay (which Lemon Creek > feeds > into) a century ago. Then nothing until 1951, when 2 pairs nested. In 1961 > there were 50 pairs. > > *"Princess Bay" is > found on older maps, but it is now more generally called "Prince's Bay." > > > > Happy Fourth! > > Matthew > > Backyard and Beyond > > https://matthewwills.com > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
