Purple Martin

by Stan Tekiela
© NatureSmart
June 8, 2007

Birds and the fashion world have had a long history together. Throughout the 1800’s all manor of bird was hunted and killed just for their feathers. The Great Egret, a large all white heron like bird with long white plums was nearly hunted into extinction just so their feathers could adorn woman’s hats. In fact the name “Egret” comes from the French word aigrette, which means “ornamental tufts of plumes”. The plumes grow near the tail of the bird during the breeding season and are very attractive.

Many species of bird were heavily hunted for the fashion industry and some were nearly driven into extinction during the 1800’s. However during the early to mid 1900’s several laws were passed to protect non-game species and we have seen a return of many of these species.

Bird watching has also been fashionable over the years. For example in the early 1900’s, putting up a Purple Martin house became very fashionable. People would build a martin house out of wood and put it up in their yards and farms. There were huge advertisement campaigns which extolled the virtues of having martins, the largest member of the swallow family, around your home. These ads said that martins would eat thousands of mosquitoes each day. Who wouldn’t like to have a mosquito eating machine flying around their home? (By the way, it turns out that only 10 percent of their diet consists of mosquitoes.)

People responded by put up thousands of martin houses. These multi-compartment homes popped up all across the U.S. They became so fashionable that companies started to manufacture martin houses. Attracting and watching martins became a national obsession. It was so successful that all of these new homes actually changed the behavior of the entire species. By the mid 1900’s it was estimated that the entire population of Purple Martin in the eastern half of the country, which for thousands of years had nested in natural tree cavities, switched over to man-made nesting cavities.

I am sure many of the readers of this column can remember their parents or grandparents who had martin houses and can attest to how common it was to put up martin houses. Then something happened. I am not sure if it was World War II, or the economy or just what changed, but the fashion winds started to blow a different direction and putting up martin houses suddenly stopped.

Neglected martin houses were taken over by House Sparrows, which at the time were expanding their range all across the U.S.. Wooden martin houses started to rot and fall apart and people lost interest in the natural insect controller. Purple Martins where no longer fashionable. The over all population of martins dropped dramatically.

Fast forward to present day and not much as changed. Martin numbers are still low and they are still nesting in man-made nesting cavities. In fact it is estimated that the entire population of Purple Martins in the eastern half of the country only nests in man-made cavities. They no longer nest in tree cavities as they did in the past. Apparently there are some martins in the western half of the country that still nest in natural cavities but that is about it.

During the winter two years ago I fixed up an old damaged metal martin house that someone was throwing out and I installed it at our lake cabin. I mounted it at the end of our dock on a tall telescoping pole. That spring, to my astonishment, several pair of martins showed up and started to construct their nests and lay eggs. I was thrilled. Three families called the end of my dock home. They raised their babies and all was right with the world.

This past winter I fixed up my beat up old metal martin house again and also added a couple of plastic gourds in hopes of gaining extra space for more martin families. Again this spring three families showed up and took up residency. As I sit here on my deck in the early morning light I can see and hear my martins calling back and forth as they come in for a landing on my old martin house. They are carrying insects to feed the young which have yet to see the world outside of their small cavity.

I hope, that maybe, just maybe the Purple Martin will again be the darling of the bird world and it will be once again fashionable to put up a martin house and people will become the caretaker of this wonderful bird. Until next time…

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