Purple Martins - 1 of 3

So - You Wanna Be a Landlord?

by Ann Conner

Purple Martins. Never really cared for them. Thought they looked like grackles. They’re purple, right? And their houses. What self-respecting bird would live in a white house. Talk about reverse camouflage. On the other hand, I love swallows. Used to watch the cliff swallows along the (other) Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona darting and diving along the mile-high walls. Barn swallows. Yeah, they’re a little messy, but what’s not to love? To show the extent of my ignorance, my sister pointed out to me recently that the SWALLOWS that nest in her Saguaro cactus during the Tucson summers are…Purple Martins. Epiphany. I got it. Purple Martins are pretty. Grackles are pretty ugly. There’s a difference.

Which brings me to Mr. George Vickrey, a neighbor who lives just up the street. George hosted Purple Martins (PMs) at his Waco home from 1999-2003. He moved to MS in 2005 and has housed them ever since. During the summer of 2010, he successfully fledged 98 PMs of the 115 eggs he counted in the nests! That is huge! Mother Nature is rarely so kind, so George’s PMs must be very happy indeed with their landlord.

In an ironic twist of fate, it is my turn to write the January blog. Me, the person who only recently realized that PMs belong to a bird family I actually like. I contact George and ask, would he talk to us about his PMs? We think MS residents would like to know about his success and how he did it, and also the benefits of sharing his property with martins. Meanwhile I go on line and do a little research. My initial excitement evaporates when I read several articles. For every success, there’s a failure. One step forward, two steps back. I didn’t realize martins were so fussy! Several people I talked to gave me the old, “If you build it they will come.” Not so fast. The martins aren’t reading our literature. I schedule the interview with George, and after all the failures I’ve read about am totally unprepared for what I see in his back yard. Purple Martin houses. Lots and lots of them.

Hmmmm…..wondering if you could be such a super landlord? First things first. I don’t know anything about martins. What to do? Start asking questions. So I ask George for some general information, and he’s happy to share.

Around March 1^st, the adults (ASY) who nested here last year start to return. (Oh dear, gotta learn a new vocabulary. Young-of-the-year PMs are referred to as juveniles or hatch-year birds. Subadults returning to North America for their first nesting season are known as second-year (SY) martins, and the adults are referred to as after-second-year (ASY) martins.)

The subadults (SY) begin to arrive 4 to 6 weeks later, and they are looking for a new home. Less than 50 percent of PMs come back to where they were born. Instead, they seek new cavities elsewhere. This gives us “new” landlords hope! Maybe they will find the new housing I’m putting up.

OK, it’s February and I want to put up my martin house so I’ll be all ready! I want to open the doors immediately! Wrong. The first PMs we see each year (around March 1^st) are the adults (ASY) and they are returning to the houses they nested in last summer. These guys are not looking for a new home. They like it just fine where they were last summer and that’s where they’re headed. We have to wait. But if we simply can’t stand waiting, we can put up our houses in February; we just can’t “open” them for visitors. If we open them too early, we’ll have problems with sparrows who will NOT leave once established. Maybe some of our native wrens will want to set up housekeeping as well. So we need to leave our houses “closed” until mid to late March when the subadults (SY) are due. Once we open them, and even before we see any martins, our work begins. The houses must be closely monitored to make sure no unwelcome visitors decide to move in.

Let’s talk responsibility. There’s work involved here, but like most things if you love what you’re doing, it ain’t work. The introduction of the Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) into North America was followed by their subsequent rapid spread. Martins and other cavity nesters are forced to compete with these foreign species for nest sites. George says he has never seen a Starling on his property; that’s good news. However, he has seen House Sparrows, and has had to trap and remove them. This is not an optional activity. Both non-native species will aggressively take over your martin housing, clogging entrances with their nesting materials and injuring and even removing martin adults, eggs and young. These are bad guys and if you want to be a PM landlord, you must be dedicated to constantly watching and removing them. Seriously, if you think you might not be able to stomach dealing with the predators and invaders, maybe you should take up another hobby. Studies have shown that martin colonies left unmanaged suffer depredation of the martins and an increase of the non-native species:

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The Impact of Starlings on Purple Martin Populations in Unmanaged Colonies -- "Starlings are capable of seriously reducing martin populations whenever human beings fail to manage colonies." – Reprinted from: Purple Martin Update 1(1):10-12; Charles R. Brown; Yale University

http://purplemartin.org/update/StarlImpact.html

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Wow! This is a lot of information. And I haven’t even done anything yet. What I need is a step-by-step guide. So I ask George, what is the very first thing a prospective PM landlord should do? Here are his ideas, based on his 11+ years’ experience.

1. Do your homework. At minimum, read all the information on the websites noted at the end of this article. Find out what you’re getting into. Remember, if you become a PM landlord, the birds are dependent on you for their housing (east of the Rocky Mountains).

2. Evaluate your site. Do you have enough open space at least 40’ from the nearest trees and not more than 100’ from your house? No fudging here. TP&W guidelines say 40-60’ from nearest trees and 30-120’ from your house, but pay attention to the minimums. Martins and trees don’t mix. And they want to be near your house.

3. While it would be a nice amenity, water on your property is not a necessity. PMs will fly a few miles to water. George says any property in MS is near enough Canyon Lake to support martins.

continued on page 2 of 3

Contact for more PM info: annconner@gvtc.com

Purple Martins - 2 of 3

Continued from Purple Martins 1 of 3

Remember when we talked about monitoring? What exactly does that mean? In the beginning, after you have opened the houses but before the martins arrive, it means checking them every day to see who’s trying to move in. If it’s a House Sparrow, you can’t let them get even an idea that they’re going to nest in your martin house. Do a daily “walk-under” to see what’s going on. If a native bird (Eastern Bluebirds, chickadees, titmice, wrens, etc.) shows interest in your martin housing, they should be discouraged from nesting.

All native birds are protected by law and we can never remove eggs or completed nests. If a native bird begins building a nest, temporarily close the martin entrance & put up a single house nearby to attract the bird away.

What are 'walk-unders'? This means studying your colony without actually getting into the housing and observing their actions under normal circumstances. You aren't directly involved and you get to see the normal happenings when they aren't being directly interfered with. A good pair of binoculars might come in handy if you want to study from a longer distance. Every day a landlord should walk under his colony to see if anything unusual can be detected from the ground. No, these walk-unders will not drive your martins away and in fact, after a short time, they won't even pay any attention to you. from—chuckspurplemartinpage.com

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1. Now the fun part. Start looking at the calendar! Around the first part of March you might see some advance scouts (ASY). They may stop at your new housing, but will go on to where they nested successfully the year before (“site fidelity”). Toward the end of March, first part of April, the subadults (SY) will begin to arrive. Open your houses! Cross your fingers and your toes that some PMs will stop by!


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“Upon arrival, males spend a great deal of time exploring cavities at the colony site. Following selection of one or more nest cavities, the males await arrival of females. Males advertise their selected cavity by performing the “claiming-reclaiming” display. This display involves flying from the cavity, gliding around, re-entering the cavity, turning and singing in the entrance. Although this activity stimulates the interest of arriving females, the female actually selects the cavity, thus inheriting the male whose cavity she chooses. Pairs become established after a few hours to a few days.” TP&W—The Purple Martin and It’s Management in Texas – 3^rd Edition 2007

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2. Nest building. Ok, the PMs are here and you can see them building their nests. After the nest is complete check the box every week on the same day. Keep a nest record chart. Note the date of the first egg (very important) and add 28 days. Continue to check the nest every week, but when the young get to be about 22-23 days old, direct nest checks should cease. Why? Opening the nest box may cause the immature birds to “jump” before they can fly. From this point on, check the nests only by walking under them. For detailed instructions on how to do nest checks, refer to this website: http://www.chuckspurplemartinpage.com/

3. Nest replacement. This is not an absolute requirement but George recommends that when the nestlings are 10-14 days old, we clean house! Remove the babies to a temporary box and clean out all used nesting material. Replace with shredded pine straw and or corn stalks available from PM web sites. Do not do this in the 20+ day range after the first egg is hatched, because the immature birds may fly out. This helps control blowflies and/or mites.

4. What else can I do to help my PMs? Martins love eggshells and will devour them during the nesting season. Early in the spring, if we have a cold spell that lasts several days, the PMs are going to need some help. They can survive 3-4 days without food (on days below 45 degrees few/no insects are flying), so when this has happened, George suggests offering crickets and boiled egg yolks, chopped and put in an open tray. We know our Texas weather, and the lower temps resulting from a Blue Norther shouldn’t last more than a few days.

5. What happens when the PMs fledge? They fly away to a nearby tree or shrub! A day or two later after fledging, they’re doing aerobatics! What a sight! The martins spend 4-5 months in the U.S., arriving in March and are all gone by the end of July. Where do they spend the rest of the year? Brazil! These guys really know how to commute.

6. So now my martins are all gone. Now what?? Wait, that’s what. Leave everything alone until Labor Day, then bring down the houses. Wash them out with a solution of 10% vinegar/90% water (no soap), dry thoroughly, close off the entrances and leave the houses lowered until next March.

The link to Chuck’s Purple Martin page (web link at end of article) has a FAQs section where someone asked how the returning PMs choose their nesting cavity. Chuck says he doesn’t really know, but the funny thing is that year after year the first gourds/nesting cavities chosen are the ones facing his house. Maybe those beautiful little birds just want to look out their front door to see who is taking care of them.

A big thank you to George Vickrey for giving up two hours of his Sunday to talk with me about his Purple Martins. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to ask him if I can come back and take more photos when his martins return in March, and if it’s OK with him, would like to follow his Purple Martin families all summer long and report back to our Mystic Shores residents. Everybody loves baby pictures, right? I already know of several folks who are interested in becoming a landlord. It is surely a gratifying endeavor. I asked George just what it is that makes it so special and he said, “Just knowing that I’m helping that species survive. Their loyalty to humans…it’s very rewarding.”

Did You Know?

Native American tribes hung clusters of hollowed-out gourds to attract PMs long before the first European settlers arrived.

Loss of habitat and competition from the European House Sparrow and European Starling has caused a complete “tradition shift” of the PM and the entire species, especially east of the Rocky Mountains, is entirely dependent on humans for nesting cavities.

An estimated 1 million North Americans provide housing for PMs.

Banding shows that most PMs live one to two years. The record longevity for PMs in the wild is 13 years. The annual mortality rate is 50 percent for adults and 60-70 percent for juveniles.

PM Myth: They eat large amounts of mosquitoes. Not true because mosquitoes are mostly low-flying, nocturnal insects and PMs feed during the day and fly high!

PM Myth: Scouts return to South America to guide their colony back to the site. Not true! Scouts are just the first birds to arrive each year and are looking to claim the best nesting cavities.

*Information courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife

HELPFUL LINKS:

http://purplemartin.org/

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0254.pdf

http://www.chuckspurplemartinpage.com/

http://purplemartin.org/update/StarlImpact.html

The Stokes Purple Martin Book: by Donald and Lillian Stokes

Contact for more PM info: annconner@gvtc.com

Purple Martins - Part 3 of 3