Bob's first year with nesting Purple Martins was in May 2002. Two ASY males and one ASY female arrived on May 5^th that year, and the colony was established with two ASY pairs. The 2-pair raised 6-young each and all 12-fledged from their nest. Bob has written several articles and had them published by Purple Martin organizations, such as PMCA, and Nature Society News. Bob's martin colony has grown from 2-pair in 2002 to 30-pair in 2007. Bob currently offers 36-nesting compartments between TG-12, T-14, and a SuperGourd rack.

The Annual Minnesota Martinfest event was established in 2003, and Bob has been the Event Lead since 2004.

The photos included were taken by Bob Schneewind at his Purple Martin colony site in Chaska, MN.

Photo of Bob's T-14 martin house in May when purple martins are returning to claim their nesting site and compartment.

Bob cuts dried wild grass stems and places them on the lawn below the purple martin housing. Martins are seen here picking up the stems and building their nests.

This is a complete view of Bob's colony site. Note the T-14 is equipped with a battery cover over the Warn model 1700 12vdc electric winch. Cabling is buried inside ?" PVC piping under the grass sod across the yard to Bob's garage where he has a 120 volt power RV converter, which generates 12 volt DC with 80-amps current to the winch. Also, note the colony site has a raised platform egg shell feeder with dome cover. The platform always has fresh oyster shells for the females in spring and for the parents to feed their young during summer months.

Egg shells provide grit for baby martins to aid them in digesting the insects their parents feed them.

Note this female martin has a federal bird band on her left leg. Bob & his father Orlin have had their martins banded since 2004. Bob has noted banded subadult martins at his Chaska, MN colony site that were banded at his father Orlin's colony site in rural Young America, MN, and vice-versa. The distance between the two colony sites is approximately 17-miles.