PM Declining in Michigan

[BoUden94]

Hello, I'm new to the forum. My name is Bo and I live in SW Michigan. I've been finding some info online about how the PM population has been declining in Michigan since 1966 and I am wondering, what are some things I can do to get started in helping out in any way?

[Dave Reynolds]

... Bo. .. First ,,, Welcome to the PMCA , great to have you here with us... I hope you receive some answers to your question.. I’m in Southeastern Ohio, so I can’t help you with your question.. Good Luck in 2024

Dave

[BoUden94]

I know a big purpose of the forum is to be conservationists for PMs in the first place, so I guess I'm just looking for any general advice I can get!

[Habsboy]

Hello, Im in SW Ontario just bordering Michigan. I started out about 5 yrs ago as I've always had an interest and as my father in law had a very healthy colony at his farm (2 gourd racks always full} I took interest very fast and thought I'd try. my home is situated in a wooded area BUT a open parcel by my house. After 2 yrs the martins accepted my gourd rack and have been growing. Playing the dawnsong and monitoring the HS and Starlings really made the difference. the martins are very reliant on us to provide the housing and they do love our company to keep safe. Not too many landlords out there so naturally the population will decline. doing your best and providing a good environment will help you at least do youre part. A very rewarding hobby to say the least AND helping out the Martins.

[Phil01]

Bo,
Hi and welcome to the forum! Tons of great info and very knowledgeable landlords on here!
I’m confused. Do you have an existing colony or are you looking to put up housing in order to help?
I’m in NE Florida so a little warmer than Michigan..
Phil

[flyin-lowe]

Do you already have or plan on having martin housing, or are you more interested in donating to the PMCA or some other way? The best thing you can do is erect some quality housing assuming you have a suitable location.

[BoUden94]

So I would be open to donating of course but my initial thought was to erect my own housing. I have about 12 acres of land, plenty of room that I could set something up. I do need to do more research as to what the natural predators and things like that are. We have some hawks that come around and chipmunks/squirrels that won't leave the bird feed we do have out currently alone.

[Phil01]

Wow, 12 acres is plenty of room as long as you have an open area away from trees. Makes them feel safer from predators. Martins also like to be near people, so an open area close to your house if possible. If you can post a satellite view of your property we can suggest where the best location would be. There is a bunch of info on this site (housing location, attracting purple martins) that should help answer your questions and you can purchase houses or gourds here as well which helps support the PMCA.
I would also recommend quality gourds or housing with large compartments which help keep them safer from predators reaching in the cavities. You mentioned you have hawks in the area. Which I personally do as well. Depending on the housing you decide on, the PMCA does sell hawks guards for most of their housing. This will help reduce but won’t totally eliminate hawk predation.
For ground predators, a predator guard on your pole is highly recommended. Snake netting above your predator guard is also a good idea as some snakes if large enough can get past the baffle guard. I’m not sure how many snakes you have that far north but down here we do for sure.
When you decide what type of housing you want to put up I would also recommend SREH (starling resistant entrances). This will greatly reduce Starlings gaining access to the nesting cavities and harming Martins and their young. If you have House Sparrows in your area they have to be eliminated using trapping or shooting as they pose a huge threat to the Martins when competing for nest cavities. Both Starlings and House Sparrows are an invasive species and can legally be eliminated from your site.
Hosting Purple Martins is a great hobby and extremely rewarding! It can definitely be a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs as most landlords are very attached to “their martins”. I know I definitely am.
Any other questions feel free to ask. I’m sure others will chime in. I hope you put up some housing this coming season and get many nesting pair your first season!
Phil

[scottfreidhof]

Providing housing for the martins is the best place to start. Your location in a town bordering Lake Michigan should help to attract purple martins to your new housing. Looking at the scout-arrival map, martins that nested in your part of the state in 2022 began returning to their nest sites during the first half of April in 2023. The first-year martins (hatched in 2022) looking to nest for the first time in 2023 showed up during the month of May. So maybe the last half of April would be a good time to install your housing. And maybe by mid April a lot of the house sparrows and starlings will have chosen nesting sites already, thereby reducing the number that try to take over your martin housing. A few bluebird nest boxes in your yard will help to keep the bluebirds and tree swallows from claiming your martin housing.

[flyin-lowe]

As mentioned above there is one aspect of hosting martins that some overall bird lovers can't get around is the need to deal with sparrows and starlings. The good news is SREH will keep out 99% of starlings. The sparrows will have to be trapped, shot, or disposed of some other way. Knowing they are invasive, and seeing how many native birds they kill, I don't feel a bit bad about dealing with them.

[BoUden94]

Wow, 12 acres is plenty of room as long as you have an open area away from trees. Makes them feel safer from predators. Martins also like to be near people, so an open area close to your house if possible. If you can post a satellite view of your property we can suggest where the best location would be. There is a bunch of info on this site (housing location, attracting purple martins) that should help answer your questions and you can purchase houses or gourds here as well which helps support the PMCA.
I would also recommend quality gourds or housing with large compartments which help keep them safer from predators reaching in the cavities. You mentioned you have hawks in the area. Which I personally do as well. Depending on the housing you decide on, the PMCA does sell hawks guards for most of their housing. This will help reduce but won’t totally eliminate hawk predation.
For ground predators, a predator guard on your pole is highly recommended. Snake netting above your predator guard is also a good idea as some snakes if large enough can get past the baffle guard. I’m not sure how many snakes you have that far north but down here we do for sure.
When you decide what type of housing you want to put up I would also recommend SREH (starling resistant entrances). This will greatly reduce Starlings gaining access to the nesting cavities and harming Martins and their young. If you have House Sparrows in your area they have to be eliminated using trapping or shooting as they pose a huge threat to the Martins when competing for nest cavities. Both Starlings and House Sparrows are an invasive species and can legally be eliminated from your site.
Hosting Purple Martins is a great hobby and extremely rewarding! It can definitely be a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs as most landlords are very attached to “their martins”. I know I definitely am.
Any other questions feel free to ask. I’m sure others will chime in. I hope you put up some housing this coming season and get many nesting pair your first season!
Phil

Wow, thanks so much for all the info!! I can definitely take a lot of this and run with it. I'm going to look at some choices for housing here in the next couple of weeks. I have some tarps laying around like these: https://www.tarpsnow.com/shop.html?q=in ... $2520Tarps but I'm unsure how useful those would be if I wanted to build some housing from scratch. I have more research to do but I really am looking forward to getting in to helping the Martins

[scottfreidhof]

Bo there is a martin mentor in Vicksburg, Michigan. Their contact info is in the link below - click on the blue dot on the map for contact information. They should be able to help you start this journey in the best direction for your location, especially as it pertains to choosing the housing type most preferred by martins in your area.

https://www.purplemartin.org/education/ ... r-program/

[Phil01]

It is a good idea to contact that mentor and see which type housing is most common in your area. He will be a huge help.
If you decide to build housing from scratch they do sell T-14 plans on this website for like 16 bucks. That is a proven, good quality house to build..
Phil

[Dave Duit]

Research may indicate the decline of martins may be attributed to increased pollution of mercury in Brazil's Amazon forest. Here is another possible answer to martins declining population a s mentioned by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

" If true, the results would force conservationists to rethink some fundamental practices. “In the past, you were thinking, ‘We can just save the rainforest and stop deforestation, and these birds will be alright,’ ” Jirinec says. “But if this is climate-related, it is not just Brazil that has done something [to the forests]. It’s the whole world, and we know how hard that is [to address].”

To Ken Rosenberg, a senior research associate at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the new research undercuts a common assumption in conservation research: that “intact” forests have perfectly preserved wildlife populations. It forced him to weigh the potentially unaccounted-for losses researchers might miss when they assume that today’s untouched forests have as much diversity as they did 30 years ago. “Maybe the pristine areas have actually gotten worse, and we’re not tracking that,” he says. Looking forward, researchers should be more careful when using modern “intact” forests as the baseline for conservation efforts, he says."