martins

Subject: PURPLE MARTINS
     Re: [BIRDBAND] Digest - 24 Feb 1998 to 26 Feb 1998
     Date:           Sat, 28 Feb 1998 19:02:27 -0800
     From:           greaves@silcom.com

"Several years ago someone ask me what my personal opinion was as to the reason behind the Purple Martin's decline. I can now say after six years of researching this species that without a doubt, the placement of tens-of-thousands of commercial aluminum houses into the hands of individuals only looking for a "quick-fix" to their mosquito problem, has placed thousands of these units into the field which now act as ecological sinks."

Where are you data that these are ecological "sinks"? Sinks for the starling, or the martin? If they are successfully breeding in these less-than 6x6 boxes, and raising "normal" number of young, then it is not the breeding area (with its starlings) that is the problem, but the wintering ground. Perhaps locals in south america eat anything they can catch, much like "civilized" europeans did when they were starving due to over-population or crop failures or both.

"It is estimated that over one million martin houses are erected each winter in anticipation of this species' return (actually most are left-out year-round). Name me one other N. American species that has this degree of breeding habitat provided for and guaranteed on an annual basis. For a species that is so simplistic to manage, there is absolutely no reason why this species should be declining within its eastern range."

Oh, but there is. Remember, it was NOT the purple martin, but the big sexy eagles and ospreys and pelicans that got DDT banned. Since DDT was banned, our ingenious leaders in industry have created tens of thousands of legal replacements that are as equally devastating. Years ago, I saw a plan for 2-liter bottle house. So, I built 2 of them. Eastern Bluebirds and Carolina Wrens used them -- the latter seemed more ready to use them once I put up 2 wooden houses, which, even while used
annually by bluebirds, the black rat snakes in my yard never failed to invade (even when the box was on a long, thin pole.

As to the Purple Marting vs Starling thread, I'd guess that someone could adapt such a thing for use by martins, with little or not expense, thus avoiding the aluminum house controversy. Why would anyone use aluminum when it is only good for beer and soda cans anyway, and might cause the
alleged incidence of alzheimers among already little-cerebrated creatures?

Construction of a "2-litre plastic home" involves removing the heavy plastic base (which is usually black, so requires no further work, then removing the clear plastic base about an inch from its former bottom, drilling drain holes where one assumes the future base of the house will be, and then providing an entrance hole (@1-1.25 inch diamter = ? mm, depending on the species encouraged) about half way up one side of the bottle. The dark bottom portion is re-attached using "sprung" wire of sufficient guage to retain it as a new bottom (or top) and the whole thing hung on a telephone pole, new pole, side of tree, or house (like the old Williamsburg bottles, horizontally under an eave, or vertically where only industrious gray squirrels might get at them). The removable dark plastic cap (or bottom) is used to check contents (if used as a lid), and cleaning at the end of the season.

As a last resort or in conjunction with entry hole diameter limitations usually surmised as starling obstructions, 0.177 mm pellets, propelled by air through a long metal tube of similar diameter, @26 inches in length, under adequate air pressure to generate @750 ft/sec of flight speed at initial ejection from the tube, might "discourage" starlings from bothering nesting martins or other "favored" species. This is usually most effective where someone is nearby on a regular basis to propel the pellets. #9 target shot (20 or 12 gauge) works as well, where local ordinances, and/or rural traditions, allow.

**********************
Jim Greaves
greaves@silcom.com
1-805-563-2905
2416 De la Vina St. #2
Santa Barbara CA
93105-3844

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