The Purple Martin — A Most wanted Bird 2005

 

Where are our Martins?  We’ve lived here at the home place for 25 years and have enjoyed several pairs of Martins every year; however, this year they have not arrived.

Ordinarily their scout arrives around the middle of February and the adults come about March 1, but this year nothing.  John had the gourds and the one apartment house cleaned out and ready, but no birds.

This sent us on a quest to find out why.  First we called Mr. Clyde Ashley, who is a Purple Martin expert, to get his opinion.  His conjecture was that we had had a chicken snake last year and if we did the Martins would not come back for seven years.    It’s amazing to me how a snake can crawl up that little 1” pole, but I’m told they can. Then enter the gourd and eat the little birds.  One man told us about finding a six-footer in one of his gourds.  Of course, he shot the gourd, snake and all – so far he has no Martins and it has been three years.  Now we know we need a snake guard on each of our two poles.  Somebody else thinks our problem may have something to do with the weather of late. 

In case you are not familiar with this graceful and beneficial bird, they eat their weight in flying insects daily.  We seldom have mosquitoes and we attribute that to the Purple Martins and our dog has no ticks – we give the guineas credit for that.    So we really hate to loose the Martins.  The young males have a light colored underside with a few spots, but by their third year they are a dark purplish color. Their flight is a sailing or gliding motion. 

One could spend hours talking to Mr. Ashley – he has about 290 nesting sites for these entertaining birds and most of them will be full by the end of the season.   As previously stated, the adults arrive around March 1, but the younger birds get here about eight to twelve weeks later.   It is quite a show to watch the industrious birds as they “tote” straw for their nests and prepare to raise a family. Then after the babies hatch, both parents are super busy feeding.  Mr. Ashley is very particular about the size of the hole he puts in the gourds.  It was determined by a man in Canada that the holes should be 1 3/16” high and 3” long.  This keeps predators such as the pesky Starling from entering the Martin nest.

Mr. Ashley has also invented a tiny porch that he attaches to the gourd just below the hole and then he puts a little roof (something like the bill on a cap) just above the hole to help keep the rain out.  All his nesting sites are painted white – this is partly to help keep the family cooler in the hottest months. 

John has taken the apartment house down, wiped the pole with Clorox, put a snake guard on it and moved it to another location.  Hopefully, this will help. The guards are made from a five-gallon plastic bucket.  Cut the bucket off about 10” from the bottom.  Make a hole the size of the pole in the center of the bottom and then saw the bucket from that point all the way out to the edge, as well as down the side. This is so it can be stretched around the pole.  Then it’s wired back together to hold it in place.  Just today we’ve seen two what we think are Martins perched on the frame above where our gourds hang.   We eagerly invite them to move in and share with us this style of country living.

Note — So far in 2014 we have not seen a Martin scout, but we’re hopeful they’ll be along soon.  Mr. Ashley, mentioned above, is no longer with us, but he knew Martins.