Ron Seekamp:
1999 PMCA Landlord of the Year

Reprinted from: Purple Martin Update 9(4)

Louise Chambers
Purple Martin Conservation Association

Ron Seekamp in front of his homemade martin houses. The houses have large nest compartments, adjustable starling-resistant entrance holes, pullout nest drawers, and adjustable ventilation louvers. On the shorter post is a combination “nest material platform, eggshell feeder, mealworm feeder.”

The PMCA is pleased to introduce Ron Seekamp of Fridley, MN, as its 1999 PMCA Landlord of the Year. A landlord since 1966, Ron’s interest in Purple Martins ranges from house design to observing and recording aspects of martin behavior. During his 35 years as a successful martin landlord, Ron has come up with several innovative ideas for making martin house systems more manageable for landlords, and more “martin-friendly” for the birds. A committed journal keeper, Ron has written and privately published a 74-page booklet entitled: ”31 Years with Purple Martins, and Counting”, that highlights the observations and discoveries that his years as a landlord have produced. [Please note: this booklet is out of print]. Ron is a very pleasant and thoughtful individual who goes out of his way to share his ideas and help others. Ron’s wife, Mary, and their children (Laurie, Linda, Dan and Lisa), have shared his interest in birds and have been patient, he says, when his interest outstripped theirs. Until his recent retirement, he was employed as a process engineer with Alliant Techsystems. We know that those PMCA members who don’t know Ron already will enjoy getting to know him here, and that his thoughts on martins and being a martin landlord will cause all of us to reflect on our own experiences, goals, and motivations.

Ron put up his first Purple Martin house in June of 1965, using scraps of wood left over from repairing his home after it was damaged by a tornado. He attracted martins for the first time in 1966 and then had some up and down years before getting his colony well established, using a house and pole design that he found to be functional for him and for the martins, too. He became a believer in larger rooms early on, first using some cavities measuring 12&1/2" long and 5&1/2" wide in 1969. He also practiced nest replacement for parasite control, long before the PMCA existed. And he has developed his own designs for martin houses and poles, based on observations made at his colony site over the years. Ron says it is important to him to help other people get started with martins and this is one reason he has kept his colony at about 20 pairs, rather than continuing to add housing. For the 2000 season, Ron used four houses, an 8-room house, two 4-room houses, and a 6-room house. Seventeen pairs nested and produced 90 eggs. Seventy-seven eggs hatched and 74 young were fledged. Says Ron, “This has been a good year for martins in this area. Weather conditions were close to ideal. There were several storms in other parts of Minnesota, but we had no bad storms or prolonged rainy weather here in Fridley.”

Over the years, the Purple Martin Update has featured five informative and helpful articles authored by Ron, based on his many years of experience as a landlord. Update 5(3), 1994, featured An Adjustable Starling-proof Entrance Hole. Update 7(4), 1997, included The Parallelogram Pivot System: An Easy Way to Raise and Lower Martin Houses. In Update 8(4), 1999, he contributed two articles, Five Years with Adjustable Starling-resistant Entrance Holes and Modifying Trio Houses to Have Adjustable Starling-resistant Entrances and Double-sized Rooms. Also in 1999, Update 9(2) had How Single-parent Purple Martins Cope: A Story About Ursula. By working with and promoting starling-resistant entrance holes, by encouraging landlords to use functional housing systems, and by his ongoing back yard studies of feeding rates and other martin activities, Ron Seekamp has done much to encourage greater involvement by landlords, which in turn leads to better breeding success for martins.

In this article, we include some new contributions from Ron. What follows is in Ron’s words, taken from his journals and other articles. Ron has also permitted us to print excerpts from his book (see below).

“My book 31 Years with Purple Martins, and Counting is a history of martins in our back yard, taken from the journals that I have kept over the years. I believe that, next to people, birds are the most beautiful of all of God’s creations. My hope for this book is that it might encourage its readers to appreciate some part of nature a little more. Someone once said, ‘We must take time to smell the roses.‘ One way that I take time to smell the roses is to watch the birds in our back yard. The freedom of flight, the gracefulness, and the beauty of Purple Martins plus their devotion in the care and feeding of their baby martins will always be a wonder to me.

When the month of April finally arrives here in Minnesota, I make sure that my martin houses have been cleaned, repainted and ready for the first martins. It is a time of excitement for me. Even after 31 [now 35] years, I eagerly await hearing and seeing the first Purple Martin of the season. I think about the long and treacherous journey that martins take every year. I wonder about the many dangers that they must encounter in their long migration trip back to their nesting area. There are predators like hawks, owls, snakes and raccoons to name a few. Stormy weather must often be another real danger to them. How can these martins, that weigh only two ounces, survive such a journey. It is indeed a great wonder.

Each spring, when the first martin comes to our back yard, I am thankful that it has made it safely. A truly joyful feeling comes over me. God must be smiling down from heaven.”

The PMCA’s Purple Martin Landlord of the year for 1998 was Kent Justus. I have not had the privilege of meeting him, but I hope I will some day. I have learned about him through the Purple Martin Update. He has done much to help other martin landlords. Though Kent acknowledges many different sources and people who have helped him, he also stated, ”I can honestly say that I have learned more about Purple Martins from constantly observing and interacting with my own colony for many years than I have from all of the literature I have read on them. You can learn so much just by stopping and observing your martins. I encourage everyone to take notes and keep a yearly diary of activity at their colony.”

I think he gives good advice. You may call it a diary, Purple Martin notes, a journal or any name you wish, but the important thing is to observe and take notes.

Perhaps the wisest thing that I have done regarding Purple Martins was to begin keeping a journal about the martin activity here. On April 18th, 1966, I made my first notation in a small notebook. It reads, “Saw the 1st martin of the year on the way home from work.” It sat on a martin house on 63rd between Washington and Jefferson St. “A cool, rainy day.” My next entry was on the 23rd of April. “I saw the 1st martins at my house in our back yard in the afternoon. 2 males and 1 female. A male sparrow chased them away. Mary saw martins enter the house.” The next entry in my notebook was the 25th. From May 1st and through the rest of the season, I made notes every day in my little black notebook. Very simple notes on what I had observed about the martins. One pair nested in my 6-room martin house that year. It was my first year with martins.

By May of 1967, I had become aware of how important weather conditions were to the martins, so I always added the low and high temperatures for the day. EXAMPLE: Saturday, May 27, 52°, 74°. About a year later, I added approximate wind direction and velocity plus other weather conditions, like cloudy or rainy. For the past 32 years, the top line of my daily notations look something like this: Saturday, July 19, 71°, 89° S. 10 SCR 0.4”. The dates and temperatures are self explanatory. The S. 10 is for wind direction and velocity. The SCR 0.4” means that it was sunny, cloudy, and rainy all on that same day with 4/10ths of an inch of rain. On some days, I might write a full page and on other days I might simply write, “No change.” That is unusual, however.

Write about what you see and what you hear. Write about the first male, the first female, and the first subadult. Write about the first nest-making activity and the first time you hear dawnsinging. How many pairs are there? What rooms are chosen? Write about problems with martin enemies, about parasites, about good things and bad things that happen. Which rooms are house sparrows or starlings trying to take over? Write about the martins that are the best at defending their nest rooms. Always write it like it happens. The notes you take this year will help you understand more next year and the years that follow. Write about the things you have done and tried to do to improve conditions for the martins; what worked well and what did not go so well.

Spiral notebooks (8" x 10&1/2") have worked out very well for my daily entries during the past 25 years. At the end of each season, I like to summarize the events and records for that season and place this data in a large loose-leaf notebook. How thorough a journal becomes is up to each individual and the amount of time he/she can spend writing these notes. I know that many of you who have been martin landlords for a long time understand the importance of taking notes on a regular basis. Some of you who are beginning landlords may think that keeping a journal sounds like a lot of work. I agree with you. It does take time and work, but the benefits make it well worth it.

You can also learn much from organizations like the ABCA, the Purple Martin Conservation Association and the Purple Martin Society of North America. I am especially grateful to these three. Judging from the ABCA Report, I believe that this organization probably has the highest percentage of members who manage active colonies of martins. This is good for all of us because we have so many experienced people that we can look to for helpful information. But remember, there are no two martin colonies exactly alike. You, the person who manages your colony, are the person who can learn to understand the needs of that colony better than anyone else. This can and will happen when you take notes regularly.

Are you keeping a journal? If you have not started, I hope you will give it a try.

Volume 6(3) of the Purple Martin Update had an article with a picture of a brood of 7 nestling Purple Martins. All of them lived to fly from their nest in a house built by Andrew Troyer. I was very impressed by this. I never thought it could happen in the colony in our back yard, but this was the season.

During the first seven years that my 8-room house was used, room G had no young martins fledge from it. I was beginning to think it was jinxed because during those years, 1987-93, the other rooms in that house were doing very well. 1998 almost made up for those bad years. Early in May, a domineering mature male Purple Martin took over room G and also room K. Both of these rooms were on the same side of the martin house. Nests were built in both of these rooms and it appeared that this male preferred room K. However, his mate chose room G. I called this pair Gilbert and Gretta. Gilbert defended both rooms until the 1st of June when it looked like a subadult male and mate were taking over room K. Room K was the last remaining vacant room in my four houses. The young female disappeared and after two weeks, so did the male. Meanwhile, Gretta completed her clutch of seven eggs on May 26th.

Ron regularly “tweaks“ his existing house designs and comes up with new versions. None of his existing houses has more than eight rooms. The house shown here has just four rooms, but achieves 100% occupancy. One of the things Ron likes about smaller houses is that he is able to conduct nest checks in each house quickly, and disruptions to feeding or brooding are brief.

Here in Minnesota the month of May was much warmer than normal so my attempts at getting the martins to take mealworms were futile. Then the first week of June was cooler than normal. I witnessed one female martin eat mealworms on several occasions, but it was always the same martin, Gretta, the female that nested in room G. My tray of mealworms was placed on a platform that I had made for nest materials. Also attached to it was an eggshell feeder. American Robins, Northern Orioles, Northern Cardinals and a Gray Catbird were all eating more mealworms than the martins. On June 9th, I attached a mealworm feeder to the room G ledge. It was made from the red plastic lid of a peanut butter jar. It took Gilbert 35 minutes before he got over his fear of that red lid. He would fly up to it, hover briefly, then fly back to the roof of my adjacent 4-room house. This action was repeated several times. Gretta stayed away from her room for only 10 to 15 minutes. About 50 mealworms were put in this new feeder. I saw some of these taken by Gretta in the early evening. The next day the mealworms were all gone. I can’t be sure martins ate them because a male oriole had become very adept at finding the mealworms that I put out.

All seven of Gretta’s eggs had hatched when I made my nest check on June 12th. On June 17th I increased the opening of the height of the starling-resistant entrance to room G. I put mealworms in the G room feeder and some in the eggshell feeder. A robin, a cardinal and an oriole all fought over those in the eggshell feeder. The robin won out, though the oriole gave the robin some competition for a while. On June 19th all seven little martins in room G looked good. I put mealworms in both of the feeders that were attached to the ledges of rooms G and J. Gretta found both feeders about 20 minutes later and took the mealworms to her young ones. I added about 75 more mealworms, mostly to the red lid feeder. Gretta took them all, first to her young ones and then she ate 9 or 10 herself. The next day I added about 100 more mealworms to the ledge-mounted feeders. Gretta made 30 consecutive trips to her nest with beakfuls of mealworms. Again she ate several herself after satisfying her nestlings. I had also added some small chunks of scrambled egg in with the mealworms. I did not see her take any of these. The weather was not good for flying insects on this day so I was glad that this full nest of young ones were being fed. The next day, June 21st, after making a feeding count, I put about 40 mealworms in the red feeder. On this day Gretta made 24 short walking trips to feed them to her young ones. This time she ate six herself.

More mealworms were fed on June 22nd. This was the day that the nestlings in room G, D, V, & T were banded. I made complete room and nest changes for rooms G and T. Band numbers for the G room nestlings were #8061-10425 through #8061-10431.

My wife and I spent three days with friends in northern Minnesota. I was eager to see how the little ones in room G were doing when we returned. I lowered the martin house and found them all to be just fine. I then made an hour-long feeding count. Gilbert and Gretta fed 28 times, the most for the colony.

The weather cooperated very well for the martins. We had lots of sunshine. When it rained, it happened mostly during the nights. Subsequent feeding counts taken on June 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and July 1st, found Gilbert and Gretta leading the colony with 27, 33, 21, 27, & 21 feeding trips per hour. Their young ones continued to grow strong and healthy. I became more confident that they would all make it.

Monday, July 5th, was cloudy with rain in the morning, so I put about 60 mealworms in the eggshell feeder. Gretta found them and fed them to her quite mature-looking nestlings. On the evening of July 7th, four of the room G nestlings were out on their ledge. Alarm calls from some adult martins sent them all scurrying back into their room. Most of them fledged on the next day. A day later, all seven of them had flown.

While it was an excellent season for all martins in this area, and in this colony, the highlight for me was watching the development of the seven nestlings in room G.

A martin house that I designed in 1994 and built for the 1995 season has only four rooms. Each of the rooms is 6" x 6" x 12". This house had 100% occupancy in its first two years of use. Also, young martins fledged from each of its four rooms in 1995 and 1996. This is the only martin house that I have designed and built that has had such immediate success. However, just because it has worked so well here does not guarantee that it will work as well in a different location. Also, I believe that every potential martin landlord should consider designing his or her own martin house. There is a good feeling in knowing that you have succeeded in helping out the martins with your own house design. Also, a person that makes his/her martin house is more likely to take a deeper interest in martins, and in other birds as well.

The upper right cavity of this 6-room house was occupied by a banded pair of subadults in 2000. Ron has had his martins banded by a local bander, Dennis Meyer, for several years. He says that having the martins banded adds a new dimension to the hobby.

Following are some features of the 4-room house: Drawer-type rooms for quick and easy monitoring of nests. Drainage holes in front corners of rooms. 12" long rooms, front to back, to provide protection from wind-driven rain and predators. A 1/2" x 3/4" x 5" long bar wedged across the center of each room to help lodge the nest firmly in place so that an owl, or other predator, cannot pull the nest toward the entrance hole. Starling-resistant entrance holes with vertically adjustable plates. A 4-gable roof with each gable having an adjustable vent opening. It can be closed early in the season when the weather is cool and opened fully when the hot weather arrives. A spare room with an auto-trap door for trapping House Sparrows. A spare room with a pull-type [manually triggered] trap door. Fishing lines are used for opening and closing the trap door. All rooms are made for easy installation of pull-type trap doors to assist in banding adult martins. The house has just four rooms. Advantages of a house with few rooms are: a better chance for 100% occupancy by martins; nest checks can be made quickly; mites are less numerous; more nest checks can be made of each active room; and, a small house is easy to raise and lower. Note: I am not recommending that a martin landlord have only one martin house with four rooms. He or she should have more than one house, each mounted on a separate post. Instead of having one 20-room martin house, for example, my recommendation would be to have three 4-room houses and one 8-room house.

Asked what is his favorite house, Ron replies that his 4-room and 6-room house designs are his current favorites. He states, “I believe that a house with four or six rooms is the ideal size. I base that mostly on the time that it takes me to make nest checks. With my 10-room house I always felt that I was keeping the parent martins away from their nests a little too long when nest checks were made.” Some other tips for martin houses: Do not use nails; use wood screws or bolts wherever possible, and make your house easy to disassemble for cleaning, whether your choose wood or aluminum for your house material.

Ron makes his house and pivot-pole plans available at a very modest cost, and enjoys sharing his discoveries with other landlords. To order house or pivot-post plans, you can send a check to Ron Seekamp at: 6371 Madison St. NE, Fridley, MN 55432. Pivot-post Plans are $3.50 per set; 4-room or 6-room house plans are also $3.50 per plan. Prices include postage. Ron also still has vinyl plates available for landlords who want to modify their housing to have adjustable, starling-resistant entrance holes, or he will modify your doors for you. (The cost to have 6 Trio doors modified is $11.50; 12 doors $21.00; these prices include return postage. Send the doors and payment to Ron. He can also modify Coates and Troyer doors, and probably other types as well. If you would like to order the vinyl, adjustable plates only, the cost is $5.95 for 6 plates, including postage.)

Ron Seekamp is the PMCA’s eighth Landlord of the Year and we are very pleased to recognize him with this award. As with all his predecessors, a focus on finding ways to aid martins through better housing and management, plus a strong interest in studying martin behavior and biology, are hallmarks of his landlord philosophy. He puts it simply, “There are always new and unexpected things happening to keep this hobby interesting. If you are fortunate enough to have martins nesting in your yard, be observant. Spend as much time as you can watching the martins and take notes, daily if you can. These notes will have value in the future.”

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