Check out the Purple Martins at Delaware State Park

E-mail & photos from Dick Tuttle:

Hello Everyone,

Have you ever sat in a lawn chair and watched a Purple Martin colony go about its business of raising its young? An opportunity to do so exists at Delaware State Park where Kenny Fecker of Waldo maintains three large martin hotels that will most likely raise more than 275 martins this season.

Last Saturday, 7 July 2007, Kenny lowered one of his hotels in order to show members of the Ohio Bluebird Society the finer points of being an effective martin landlord. Vinyl "skirts" protect the martin hotels from raccoons and other climbing predators. Fencing protects the nest chambers from Great-horned Owls and hawks, and special entrance holes stop European Starlings from claiming valuable nest sites.

An aluminum tray sits in each nest chamber and can be removed for nest inspections and data-taking. Also, when the nests are found to contain parasites, old bedding is dumped so new wood chips can be added. One family of five nestlings impressed those of us that raise Tree Swallows since martins are nearly three times as massive as their smaller cousin.

Seventy breeding pairs of Ohio's largest swallow put on an exciting show as they arrive at their nests overlooking the boat launch area east of the Marina. Watching with binoculars is best, but sometimes with the naked eye, parts of large insects such as dragonflies, moths, butterflies, wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers, can be seen sticking from parents' bills.

Kenny expects some of the later families will occupy his martin hotels into mid-August. Presently, the chatter of a large colony of martins is a welcomed sound in Central Ohio. This is the largest martin colony on public land in the area. It is fun to watch the energetic birds work hard to prepare their offspring for a life that includes winters spent in Brazil. Not a bad idea!

Conserve on,
Dick Tuttle