Future for martins: mixed observations

[John Miller]

Well..I'm sitting in a hotel in Paducah, Ky....been traveling backroads in nearby Caldwell County, Princeton, last couple of days going to cemeteries for a bit of family tree research, but of course observing martin housing all along the way.

I'm encouraged in this rural area to see so many houses. The tradition remains. But nearly all are starter plastic boxes or old Trios, a few of which I know have been leaning for over a decade. I did for the first time spot a Trendsetter with four gourds below it, so at least some quality housing.

While it's encouraging to see so much housing, it's discouraging to see so little of higher quality; rarely a predator guard and most housing placed in tree encroached sites.

How can we better take advantage of the interest that appears to be out there, and move the needle toward people putting up good housing in good sites? I don't know the answer. Trying to do my part in the St. Louis area, holding a few educational events -- several scheduled next year -- and managing public housing, but feel that's a drop in the bucket. Maybe if we all do a little bit toward public education, the species will survive. I sure hope so.

John Miller

P.S. Now if someone can tell me how to safely remove lichens from grandpa's gravestone...ha...maybe that's another Forum, and will be another trip.

[tonyg]

Totally agree with what you have stated John. Every person I have come across with some sort of Martin housing good or bad, I tell them what they need to do to help attract or keep what they have, which includes placement of housing, predator guards, sreh, sparrow/starling traps, etc..( my neighbor for instance).. But just like him, most refuse to heed the advice...it's wasted breath..it's solely up to the individual to WANT to be a Martin Landlord...we are a rare breed of people..

[ShawnK]

I agree as well. I travel a lot in my work and see a lot of the same, John. You can't always tell if it is an active colony but certain clues tell me how likely it may or may not be. I see so many in complete disrepare and neglect or they may be in substandard sites where tree encroachment is a problem. I'm sure in so many of these instances they are breeding grounds for our S and S population.

It is nice to know people started out at least trying we just don't know where it went after that such as how informed they were before beginning. Just as you mentioned, education is key and getting the word out is difficult if no one is listening.

Shawn

[Louise Chambers]

Lots of water and soft bristle brush, on a nice day that might not be too bad: http://www.ctgravestones.com/Conservation/cleaning.htm

I think you, John, (reminds me of funny story about my dad as a kid, he came home and announced he had two new friends, You-Gene and You-John), and many others here, do the best possible thing to promote greater interest in martins - you maintain public sites, where more people become aware of our wonderful purple friends. People will not have interest in becoming landlords if they've never seen or heard of Purple Martins.

[John Miller]

Thanks Louise...I'll look at the gravestone cleaning video. I found many "Miller" grave stones with lichens sp? and some of these stones are only two or three decades old, and some much older. When I was a kid, my grandpa Miller, who introduced me to martins, and I cleaned and righted some of these very stones. What's that saying? raise a kid in the way he should go, and when he's old he'll still being putting up martin houses and caring about grave stones...ha.

[taxidermy lady]

I'm thinking a tv show. " This old Purple Martin House". Go around the countryside to old worn down martin housing and restore them. People would let you do it to be on tv. Also we would have to do follow ups so they keep them nice. We would have teams to compete. Who chooses the right housing for the area and the best location in the yard. And yes which team attracts the first pair. Also a little drama of some sort. All reality TV needs drama! Ok now we need sponsors!!!

This would be a great job! Just remember it was my idea!!!

[G Saner]

I have often considered the same issue. Your educational events are very important. You never know when some young person in the audience will be hooked.

When I retired and moved to a new town, I decided that mentoring would be my best way to increase the martin population. I will only monitor 32 cavities myself this next season but can help others offer many more cavities through the program. I have 6 mentees so far. All offer good housing and monitor their colonies. Many new landlords can benefit from this program as I am sure there are dozens of mentors across the martin's range that will answer e-mails and/or visit the new landlord's site. I have been surprised at how the mentees accept my suggestions. Even the ones that "wouldn't kill a spider" are now trapping sparrows and destroying them after they lost martin eggs.

Not sure how we can make more people aware of this program. I found three ways to get to the Mentor program through the PMCA's website. All three involved two clicks. Maybe a new tab can be added on the home page titled "Get Help". They already have one on the home page titled "How to help".

[scottfreidhof]

I zoomed over to a local gourd festival one Saturday afternoon earlier this month in the next small crossroads town down the road. I have wanted to check it out for years. Went at the last minute hoping to purchase some natural gourds. Arrived around 5:00 pm to find most everything was over. All the display tables were still up but no one was selling martin gourds or educating about martins. It was more of an arts type event with lots of decorated gourds. The thought occurred that I should be "that" person next year who has an educational display about martins and provides martin gourds for sale at the event. Maybe donate a simple gourd rack and gourds for a lottery to help the local coordinators earn some money for their community causes.

The best part though was finding out that one of the event coordinators has a huge martin colony on the west side of the county. I just happened to ask the "right" person for some popcorn for the kids before leaving and decided to ask if anyone had offered martin gourds for sale. Turns out she had the only table with undecorated natural gourds, but none were big enough for martins. She was excited to talk about the hundreds of martins in her colony and how her husband adds to the housing almost every year. Their housing consisted of one of the brands of plastic gourds, but she knew from experience that martins preferred natural gourds over anything else.

Makes you wonder how many more awesome colonies are out there that we never see. So I would rate the future for martins on the west side of the county as good. On the east side where I live, the rating would be "fair to middlin'."

[Dave Duit]

Hi John,
I think the educational speaking events do make a small difference in gaining ground in educating the public on quality housing and responsibilities of being a landlord. I give around 10 public educational seminars per year and I believe in a crowd of 50, maybe 5 newbies will actually put up housing. I does feel like running through mud to get to the finish line, but I do feel that we are making a difference. Keep up the great work in the St Louis area.

[DornCounty]

I think State Side we are fine. There is plenty of house put up every year.. lots of folks educating and doing seminars all across the country. Heck just looks at what's posted here. I bet there is not a person from Kansas east to the Atlantic that didn't have a martin presentation within 100 miles of their house at some point the last couple years. That's darn good coverage.

This website alone is priceless. The tech savy generation is starting to hit the age where interest in the finer things of life will hit.

My big concern is on the wintering grounds. They are basically be devastated right now.

[scottfreidhof]

Dorn - What's going on in the wintering grounds that is so devastating?

[John Miller]

Thanks for all your comments. I too am more encouraged than discouraged. I cleaned the gourds for the season yesterday at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois (near St. Louis) for the season, and as I worked, probably a dozen people walked by to ask "what kind of bird lives there?" There's certainly interest, but also a great need for education.

Will be doing several talks around St. Louis early next year, mostly close by here I don't think most folks in the metro area really have space for martins. These efforts are more just to let people learn about martins they can see in the park maybe. I am excited to get my self booked -- I volunteered -- to speak at the Cape Girardeau Mo MDC nature center March 17. Jerry Hampton of Sikeston used to give talks there, but he's getting older. The Nature Center has a small colony on site, and it's a martin rich area, so I'm hopeful that giving a talk there will be useful. We do what we can. John

[Matt F.]

Great thread John.
I have a Martin presentation coming up in a couple of weeks that I'll be giving for some of the local ISD teachers.
I usually am giving little Martin seminars to elementary school kids, so this will definitely be different.
I've always said, if I can get just one person from each one of these talks to become interested enough in Martins, that they start looking more into, and learning more about them after they leave, then it's a success.
Of the course the PMCA gets mentioned quite a bit (which makes the PMCA's new, wonderful web presence even more exciting since it has a much more attractive and inviting layout - especially for new visitors).

On the subject of "Miller" - I've talked before about how I first got interested in Martins.
When I was very young (about 4 or 5 years old) there was an older couple that lived next door, and the gentleman built, and put up, an awesome, 4-story, wooden Martin house.
It attracted many Martins, and even at 4 and 5 years old, I immediately became enamored with these gorgeous, gregarious birds, that lived together in these beautiful houses. They really did perform a permanent "Martin mind melt" on me.
Where am I going with this?
Guess what his last name was? You got it - it was Miller.

[John Miller]

Matt...that's great. "Miller" is such a common name, but -- going off topic -- last winter I became obsessed with genealogy and to my amazement was able to track back to Isaac Miller who immigrated to PA from Ardstraw northern Ireland about 1780, and one of his sons, William, (my line) born in Tennessee, after raising one family in TN got bored and by about 1850, now in his late 50s made his way to Coryell County, Texas. A local researcher helped me find his will at the courthouse. He had a bunch of kids with his second wife (not my line ) so some Millers in Texas and I are half cousins, and surely some have martins!

[John Miller]

....

[LarryMelcher/KY]

Great thread John Miller! Reading all replies, it's great that so many of us are willing to stand up, show up and speak about Martin's. Although some mentioned this, I think that Purple Martin's are best at attracting people. Public Martin colonies work for you when you're not there. Speaking does help, but let's go back to the comment of the drive in KY and seeing so many old run down colonies. You saw a few new ones,.... we need to see more great examples of quality housing / gourds not so far off the beaten path. So for those of you reading that may be thinking, "I'm not a good speaker". You can help Purple Martin's by starting a new public colony or help out at an existing one. One thing I've learned by setting up at public events, I can talk and talk and talk, but nothing stops people faster than a live, active martin colony. October 17, and 18th I will spend hours preparing and set up a Martin information booth at Bernheim forest's annual event, "Colorfest". I'll bring my tv. Nothing grabs people's attention better than the Martins. I got started making videos for that reason. I can grab a person's attention so quick with a video of baby Martin's in the nest. The public Martin colony works for me every day.

[zag]

Its a sight for sore eyes, when I see a Martin House, sitting right along side of a big tree... No Martins will be showing up at there place.. I live in Michigan, starlings and sparrows, dime a dozen...

[Lewis]

I live in the deep south, Georgia, and what I have seen in my travels around the state is there are a lot of people who put up gourds as apposed to houses. Most do not use pole guards so I think the bigger problems are snakes and raccoons as apposed to sparrows and starlings. I started with a Trio and 4 swinging gourds. No starlings and a few sparrows in the trio which were dispensed with. Two of my neighbors lost their colonies and neither knew why. Neither had pole guards. I use electric fence on mine and suggested it to one who had a big colony. To date no change. Martins may exist with sparrows and starlings, but not with snakes and raccoons. The Great horned owl is also a threat but not as numerous as snakes and raccoons. Cooper hawks are a threat but will not wipe out an established colony.

[tonyg]

They won't exist with Starlings and Sparrows either Lewis...eventually they'll lose the battle...

[Lewis]

Tony I agree with you that it is better to control starlings and sparrows especially if we use updated housing with expanded rooms and larger gourds with porches all of which I now have and I use srehs improved with my modification, but with my old system which consisted of a Trio with small rooms and small free swinging gourds. I had no sparrows or starlings try the gourds and starlings did not try to nest in the Trio. I base my statement to a large degree on what Scully found in his observations of numerous colonies around his school that martins did exist with sparrows and starlings.Also, most of what I see in my travels in Georgia are gourds with round holes on home made racks or numerous gourds suspended on a long strand of wire between two poles like a clothes line. I have not stopped to examine these colonies closely to see if they have sparrows or starlings. My only evidence that these systems are producing martins are the large numbers of martins reported at roost like the 700,000 at Lake Murray SC. I just think people may be more receptive to showing them how to make and put up a pole guard as apposed to trying to get them to spend a lot of money on better systems.
I have some gourds I grew a couple of years ago stored in my barn. I have thought of cutting Clinger SREH's in these gourds and hanging them free swinging clothes line fashion to see if sparrows or starlings would be attracted.

Lewis