Our Lowe’s Satellite Martin Colony Wiped Out Again

[Boisy Pitre]

FYI, I just got a call from a regional representative of Lowe's explaining the situation with the PM houses in Shreveport.

According to the guy, the manager at the store attempted to contact local schools, etc to find out who the houses belonged to before taking them down as part of a store spring cleaning overhaul. Still, he admitted that it was a gaffe.

He indicated that $1400 would be donated to the PMCA and that they would provide Steve with some bird houses and poles.

I asked that he consider this a moment where corporate could educate their store managers and associates on PMs as well as HOSPs, and he agreed. I don't know if such education will become forthcoming, but I'm sure Lowe's has a way to communicate events to all their stores and employees, so I would hope that this gets done.

I thanked him for calling and for Lowe's doing what it could to repair the damage done.

[M.Stephens]

Lowe's regional distribution warehouse is located in Mt. Vernon Tx. I'm assuming this warehouse supplies Shreveport and all surrounding areas. It is located off of I-30 west. What it matters now I don't know but thought I would mention it. I drive by there every couple of weeks. I'm sure Bob has driven by it.

[lcline85]

Im glad to hear that lowes is admitting a fault here and making quick effort to recover. I always preferred lowes and hate to hear of unfortunate circumstances such as these.

[MingjoMartins]

I personally emailed and then stopped into my local Lowes Store today. I shopped to my hearts content and then prior to check-out I asked to speak to a manager. He was extremely gracious, invited me to his office, and was able to pull up my email that I sent off of the Lowes.com link. I personally know for certain that this email made it to corporate - I watched him hit forward it.

To top it off - he even offered me a free blue-bird house. I declined and asked that he consider a donation to the PMCA instead.

JohnM

[willbird]

Om the "legal/illegal" angle, is it "legal" to evict non PM native birds from PM housing ??

From what was posted so far my guess is "no".

Bill

[willbird]

]On the "legal/illegal" angle, is it "legal" to evict non PM native birds from PM housing ??

From what was posted so far my guess is "no".


VERY interesting google on "Home Despot" (my nickname for them, no real reason for the nickname).

Bill

[Guest]

Just a thought,with the Lowes store incident maybe for a future satelite colony a nursing home would be more receptive.I have a mother-in-law who has been in a rehabilatation/nursing home for 3 months now and i have met many wonderful elderly people while visiting her and i believe that a martin colony would be perfect for lifting the spirits of the folks who are patients at these facilitys.I read about this idea in vol.21 of the purple martin update and now with a family member in a home i think its a great idea.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

A nursing home would be a great place for a martin house, and I have seen some before at homes. The sparrow problem is usually severe at nursing homes, they are in town, so that can become a majoy problem. I would not want to trap or kill sparrows at the home.

[jeffwilliams72]

lewy39, excellent idea! Most new nursing homes are wide open and have retention ponds. Plus, the people living there, are old enough to remember when Martin houses were commonplace and still greatly appreciated by most of society.
I have noticed that the old-timers around me remember when their dad or grandpa or uncle had Martins, why they didn't continue the tradition I don't know? Maybe because of the constant battle with S&S that wasn't an issue a little further back in time?

[Louise Chambers]

Willbird,

You asked about whether or not it's legal to remove nests of native birds from martin housing - we know it's legal to remove non-native birds' nests (HOSP and starlings)

Removing a completed nest with eggs or young would certainly be illegal - bluebird, wren, tree swallow, etc.

If native birds try to use martin housing, best solution is to plug it and supply a box or gourd for the bluebirds, etc - when they accept the new house and start nesting, better yet lay eggs, it's safe to reopen the martin housing.

[John A Green Jr]

My wife works at the local lowes and I told her of the incident that occured but couldn't get her to stir anything up at work. Guess I don't blame her for she has to work there. I know she does receive training on different stuff all the time and I will be inquiring about whether she gets anything on this subject. Keep you posted.

[Louise Chambers]

The paper covered the story, mangling names a bit -

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/ ... NTPAGE%7Cp

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Note: this is a 2 part story, you can read Lowes reply in case you missed it

I wonder if the renovations need to be made immediately. If so, why have the renovations not started, or have they started?

[Matt F.]

The purple martin is considered a protected bird by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and removing or tampering with their nests is a federal offense, but it is unclear whether the homes are covered by the law.

Wow. Their nests are in the "homes". It seems pretty clear that removing the houses falls under "tampering or removing their nests".
Also, it should be noted, they paper stated the birds fly 600 miles to get to their Shreveport home.
The distance from Sao Paulo, Brazil - to Shreveport, LA. is approx 4969 miles

[Louise Chambers]

Yes, I should have said mangling names AND information a bit.
... says Louise of the Purple Martin Foundation

[John A Green Jr]

Good catch Matt, seems they left a 0 off the end, lol. Seems as though their trying to rectify the situation. There's alot of people that wouldn't even care.

[Steve Kroenke]

When I spoke with the reporter, I mentioned that purple martins fly non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico and that can be around 600 miles. So that is where the 600 mile non-stop reference came fron. The reporter just left out some information!

Also, our martin houses were erected on a median between the main road and Lowe's parking lot. There is really nothing that Lowe's can do in this location to "renovate" unless they plant flowers or something like that. I guess they could "re-do" the curb area near the turn off into Lowe's parking lot. I don't think anything has been done so far. I believe there are still two areas of exposed dirt where Lowe's removed our two martin housing systems.

There was really no need to remove those martin houses at this time and Lowe's could have let the martins finish this season. The store management changed and some of the employees are obviously hostile to the martins since "birds" are nesting all over the Lowe's store and management does not like it. Of course these "birds" are house sparrows and Lowe's lumped the martins into that same category.

At least Lowe's has attempted to rectify the siuation to a point. I am happy they are donating the proceeds to pay us for our martin houses to the PMCA and that is what we requested from Lowe's. And maybe Lowe's will now have a better understanding about martins and how important they are to many folks.

Steve

[Matt F.]

Steve,
You and Bob handled this very stressful situation, like true pros.
You guys are both excellent Martin "ambassadors".
Even though it was awful that this happened, I'll bet it gained a lot of attention from the public, and Lowe's corporate, and in the process, informed many about these wonderful birds, and the huge following of fans they have.
Again, great work gentlemen.

[Tim in VA]

Yes Steve and Bob,
Thank you for handling this situation in the manner you did. I would have been way to emotional to deal with something like this. Hopefully the PMCA received a worthy contribution and the Martins found a new home.

[James Strickland FL]

Steve Great Job ! I am still not going to shop at lowes until I see a formal letter from lowes post here.