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How Much Water Does A Purple Martin Need Daily?

Bryan From Nashville, TN Writes:

-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan
To: Central Florida Bird Watchers
Subject: How much water does a Purple Martin need?

> How much water do the Purple
> Martins need on a daily basis and how much water
> do they get from the insects they consume? Or
> would you say that martins do not require a water
> source to survive?
> Thanks,
> Bryan

Our Reply:

Bryan,

Purple Martins usually locate their nests with in 2 miles of a clean water supply. The closer to the nest site the better. They thrive on nest sites attached to end of docks on fresh water lakes. Our colony is on the edge of a small lake.

They get some water from the fluids found in the insects they eat, but not enough to sustain them for long periods of time.

They usually drink on the fly by dipping their beak into the water as they glide across the surface of a lake or pond. We see them routinely dipping for water in the early morning and again during the later afternoon.

They can survive for several days without water as the migrate twice each year across Gulf Of Mexico or the Caribbean Sea . It is thought they are able to drink on the fly during rain showers during over sea crossings.

Thank you for visiting the Central Florida Bird Watchers web site and for your great question

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