April 07, 2005 - 22 rooms, back-yard viewThe Suffolk Times • April 7, 2005
22 rooms
back -yard view
I just came in from repairing my
purple martin apartment house. It's
a big affair for martins because they
nest in colonies. This one has 22 com-
partments, or
nesting boxes. I'm FOCUS
sure many of you
have seen these ON
large apartment
houses with their N AT U i3 E
many openings.
Actually there's by Paul
no set number of Stoutenburg
compartments.
It all depends on
the ambition of the builder, remem-
bering that once built it has to be put
up on a pole.
The North American Indians were
the first to lure martins to take up
residency near man. They used dry
and hollow gourds to act as homes for
the graceful fliers and insect catchers.
That tradition of using gourds is still
active today, especially in the South,
where 10 or 20 gourds on a hanger
provide homes for these useful, wel-
come birds.
Today there is a renewed interest it
luring martins to the back yard. Beint
the largest members of the swallow
family, they do a great job of catch-
ing flying insects. There is actually a
count of 2,000 mosquitoes that had
been caught on the wing found in the
stomach of a single purple martin.
People who don't want to build
their own martin house can buy a
prefabricated one. These work fine,
plus they are made of aluminum,
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t
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Times /Review photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
Purple martins, our largest swallows, nest in man -made apartment houses such
as the one seen here. They are expert eradicators of flying insects. More than
2,000 mosquitoes were found in the stomach of a one purple martin. Can you
imagine what a colony of these efficient fliers could do in your back yard?
which makes them light to work with
and there is no maintenance as there
is with my home -made wooden one.
One of the problems with a martin
house is that it attracts less desirable
tenants, such as the common house
sparrow and starling. They often
takeover the nesting compartments
long before the martins return in the
spring, and once these undesirables
In
i T#Ow
offtes
Martin house
martin or any other bird,
Besides their being one of the most
efficient mosquito catchers, purple
martins are cheerful birds to have
around, with their soft chatter as the
mill around their summer home. This
plus their graceful flying makes them
one of the most sought -after birds
you can find. One way to outsmart
the house sparrows and starlings is
to wait to put up your martin house
until after the purple martin "male
scouts" have arrived in mid April to
locate their future homes. The fe-
males will follow later.
It's important to locate your martin
house as far away from trees and in
as open an area as possible. The more
space they have, the better they'll like
it.
If you live near a pond or lake or
even a body of saltwater, it's fascinat-
ing to watch swallows like the martin
take a bath on the wing by dipping
ing up again and repeating it. It's
presumed they also take a drink in
the same manner. I've watched these
maneuvers late in the afternoon just
before they go to roost during Au-
gust and September. It's at that time
they are congregating to prepare for
their migration south. Remember, all
swallows, be it- martins, tree swallows,
bank swallows or others, must have
flying insects to survive. And so as the
days grow shorter and the tempera-
ture drops, the flying insects become
scarcer — a signal for the swallows to
head south for the winter. Some will
spend the winter in Central America;
others will fly as far as South America
— all basking in the land of plenty ...
The martin population has plum-
meted from what it once was here on
the island. The reason is still being
debated. One real reason that I can
relate to is that during the years of
the '80s we had nrolonaed periods of
Fold and rain. This kind of weather
can spell disaster, for insects do not
fly under such conditions and there-
fore the martins literally starved to
death. My martin house that had
lured martins year after year became
empty. My martins lay dead around
their once active home. It was heart-
Others in our area have been
luckier than I. There are active purple
martin houses in Mattituck, Nassau
Point, Shelter Island, Manorville,
along the Peconic River, and prob-
ably other places.
Some say the decline in martins is
because of pesticides. We're a nation
of sprayers, whether it is for this or
for that. The result is that when the
swallows pick up their daily meal of
flying insects some or many carry the
pesticide with them, and who suffers?
The swallow becomes the victim of a
pesticide that was not meant to kill
swallows but nevertheless has done
just that.
Purple martins have a huge follow-
ing — so much so that there are asso-
ciations dedicated solely to them. By
joining such a group you are exposed
to a wealth of information about
purple martins through newsletters,
pamphlets on how to attract purple
martins, lists of fellow enthusiasts liv-
ing near you, and so much more.
For those of you who would like to
become more involved in the purple
martin world, here is an address
where you can find out more about
them: Purple Martin Conservation
Association, Edinboro University of
Pennsylvania, 219 Meadville Street,
Edinboro, PA 16444; phone, (814)
734 -4420 ; fax, (814) 734 -5803; web -
site, www.purplemartin.org; e-mail,
pmca @edinboro.edu