Purple Martin Nostalgia...How I Got Started And Unusual Martin "Colonies" From The Past
From: Steve Kroenke, Tallahassee, Florida
Date: 1/11/02
Time: 8:47:56 PM
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Purple Martin Nostalgia: How I Got Started and Unusual Martin "Colonies" From The Past
One commonly develops passions and interests at an early age. We are impressionable at this point in our lives and every sight and sound excites us as we begin our journey of exploration. Something clicks and we are on our way to a brand new world of adventure. Ah, the carefree innocence of youth. We can take chances and often get away with our mischievous indiscretions. Just blame it on our youthful inexperience. We seem to have no fear and eagerly investigate the world around us. And nothing is more tantalizing to an inquisitive boy than the awesome lure of nature.
How I Got Started: I Was A Meddler
Why I was crazy about wild things as a young boy I will never understand. Maybe I should blame my childhood heroes like the mythical Tarzan or real ones like the late Marlin Perkins from "Wild Kingdom" fame. I did live out in the country so the opportunities for "meddling in the lives" of all those wild critters were plentiful. And did this country boy meddle. I found nature an irresistible attraction and I was always exploring and getting into mischief. If it crawled, flew, slithered, swam, hopped, or ran, I wanted to "meddle with it". Nothing escaped by prying eyes and insatiable curiosity.
My interest in purple martins began at the age of 11 if I can remember that far back. This interest was just a logical extension of my boyhood love of wild critters and nature. I had pet turtles, lizards, rats, insects, frogs, salamanders and other various wild things. Mama was tolerant to a point, but she "drew her line in the sand" at the back door, shook her head and said, no snakes in the house. She finally banned all wild things from the house forever when several of my pet fence lizards escaped and ended up in, well... I never will forget the blood curdling screams of terror coming from my sister’s bedroom late one night. One of these "spiny" fence lizards decided to "den up" under the sheets in my sister’s bed and was glued to her pajama bottoms. I got into big trouble.
One of my first passions was an interest in the "meat-eaters of the plant kingdom", the carnivorous plants. Now I can see all you folks on the Forum who have read my articles on martin predators saying, now we know why he has such a fascination with predation. I had a garden of these awesome "carnivores with roots" in my backyard and you could almost hear the "jaws" of the Venus flytraps chomping down on any unfortunate fly or ant that dared to "run the gauntlet". There were the sticky tentacles of the sundews that entrapped flies and ants, the slimy leaves of the butterworts that ensnared tiny insects and the tubular pitcher plants with watery pits of death that drowned their victims. This was one garden where the insects did NOT rule and they took a great risk to visit those "innocent" looking flowers with "teeth".
Grandma’s Make Great Mentors
Okay, so you ask, now what does this have to do with purple martin nostalgia? Well, there is a connection in my case. It was my interest in the carnivorous plants that led to my passion for purple martins. I had a boyhood friend who had introduced me to the world of carnivorous plants at the age of 11. His family also had a cottage at a large manmade lake called Lake Talquin, southwest of Tallahassee and we sometimes went there. And guess what they had in the backyard near the water’s edge? Yes, they had a martin house. His Grandma loved birds and she quickly hooked me on martins. She was my mentor, a wonderful God fearing lady who delighted in teaching me about martins, bird houses and feeding wild birds.
And that is where it all began, a passion for martins that has endured for all these years. A journey with no end. A never ending quest for knowledge. I have had my share of successes, defeats, joys and sorrows, but my passion for martins never subsided and I never tire of learning about them. There are still many mysteries of martin behavior and biology that are just waiting to be solved and I can’t wait.
The Days Of Plenty Seem To Be Gone Forever
As my interest in martins continued to grow, I became much more observant and I actively looked for martin colonies in my area. Back in the 60s, 70s and early 80s, martins were plentiful in North Florida where I live. There was hardly an unoccupied martin house around and many were placed in totally unsuitable locations. And this was in spite of hordes of sparrows and starlings that invariably nested with the martins. At my very first colony site in 1963, I had so many martins trying to nest that they even nested in gourds hanging in trees and single unit houses placed just a few feet off the ground. But those days of plenty are gone forever. Now days it seems only colonies in good locations are doing well while many other houses remain empty. Martins have declined in this area since their heyday of yesteryear and unfortunately I believe this trend is the wave of the future.
Unusual Purple Martin Nesting Sites From The Past: Clues To Historical Shifts In Martin Nesting Behavior
While I mainly looked for the traditional martin colonies in houses/gourds, I did observe several unusual martin nesting sites over the years. These martins were nesting in "something else" and existed during the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. Now, this "something else" has got me thinking and perhaps can shed some light on the evolution of purple martin nesting behavior that occurred in the Eastern United States. Here’s the current line of thinking, from woodpecker holes/natural cavities, to gourds in Native American villages, to gourds in European settlements, (to-well-maybe "something else") to multi-room martin houses and continuing with gourds (and maybe "something else"). What is this puzzling "something else"? I believe you will see pieces of the puzzle slowly connecting as you read about some of these unusual purple martin colonies from the past. Here’s the first piece:
Purple City Slickers
Tallahassee, Florida. The State Capitol. Ground zero for the great battle for the presidency in 2000. Not a big city, but a nice place to live and I have lived in this area all my life.
And guess what was living throughout downtown Tallahassee in the 60s and probably for years before then? They were everywhere it seems. I marveled at their numbers. Yes, Tallahassee had a huge purple martin population nesting all over the city. Though I never tried to count the number of martin pairs, I guess it was easily a hundred plus. Purple martins were nesting in business signs, drainage holes, architectural décor, under window air conditioning units, and about in any "cavity-looking" place on the various buildings.
The largest martin colony was in a savings and loan sign right in the heart of the city. This sign was dark blue if I remember correctly, illuminated, and was not placed flush against the building front wall. The sign was about six inches thick, apparently hollow inside, and open from the back. There was a space between the back of this sign and wall that allowed martins to enter and gain access to the multiple hollows of the various letters. Many of the letters seemed to have either a martin family nesting in the exposed opening itself or inside the letter. Of course, there were plenty of house sparrows and starlings, too, nesting with the martins. The savings and loan staff despised the birds and tried to frighten them away by hanging a fake great horned owl on the sign. It worked for a while, but then all the martins, sparrows and starlings just ignored it.
Remember the window air conditioning (AC) units? Many of the government and business offices had these units protruding out their windows. Under some of the units was a tray that I guessed was for drainage purposes. This created a large open area that had a top and a bottom, but open everywhere else. The vertical dimension from the bottom of the tray to the bottom of AC unit was about three inches. However, martins used these "nest trays" and a number of pairs could be seen nesting. Only one pair of martins would nest under each AC window unit, but these "single colonies" were located throughout the city. The martins only nested in the units that were relatively high up, often more than 20 feet and some much higher.
At the Florida Supreme Court building, there was a series of long (maybe one or two feet) architectural "tubes" that had both a front and back entrance and were located about 25 feet up from the ground. I guess 20 of these "tubes" were located on each side of the front entrance to the Court. Each "tube" was about four inches in diameter and somewhat triangle shaped. This can be best described as a "lattice design" that seemed to have little functional usefulness, but appeared to be more for decorative purposes. And yes, martins nested in these openings, placing their nests in the middle of the "tubes". These martins had a front and back door.
And other martins were nesting in rectangle shaped drainage holes that were positioned near the tops of some building. These were only about three inches high and four inches wide, but very deep. I remember a pair of adult (ASY) martins that nested for years in such a hole on the front wall of the old Leon County Public Library. Their nest must have been several feet deep in the drainage hole.
Tallahassee’s "purple city slickers" quickly vanished as the signs were replaced and the old window AC units disappeared. The last martins I saw nesting in downtown Tallahassee was around 1969 or 1970 and they have never returned.
Is the puzzle slowly taking shape and revealing that "something else"? I bet you already know the answer. But just in case you don’t, here are some more pieces:
Bridge Over "Purple" Water
During the early to mid-60s, my family often went to Panama City Beach to enjoy the emerald green water and sugar white sands. To get there, we had to cross part of the Ochlocknee River that drains out of a dam on Lake Talquin. Well, there was an old bridge with iron beams/supports that crossed about 15 feet high over the highway. And guess what was nesting in large numbers in the various "cavities" of the beams? Yes, a colony of purple martins. They had their nests in multiple openings that were underneath the metal beams that crossed over the road. The martins had to fly under the beams and then maneuver straight up into these large openings. Each nest was placed in a relatively big open area that could only be accessed from below. I never could count the number of martins, but guessed maybe 20 or more pairs were nesting. But this martin colony was doomed to human progress. The martins disappeared when the bridge was replaced with a more modern one without all the metal beams.
Maybe Martins Like To Shop At Publix Grocery Stores
On the Apalachee Parkway about two miles from Tallahassee’s State Capitol Building, there is a Publix grocery store. I often stop here to buy groceries on my way home. Well, in the late 70s there was a small colony of martins nesting in the Publix sign. The martins shared the sign with many sparrows and starlings and competition was intense. The martins nested in the exposed open letters and inside the hollow sign. This sign is positioned on the front of the Publix building very much in the same manner as the old savings and loan sign was in downtown Tallahassee. The martins, starlings and sparrows could enter behind the hollow sign through the open space between the sign and front wall. This colony lasted a few years and finally disappeared when starlings overwhelmed both the martins and sparrows. The sparrows survived.
Trucking Martins In Lloyd, Florida
Fast forward to the early to mid-80s. Lloyd, Florida, a tiny sleepy Southern town off I-10 about 16 miles east of Tallahassee and around four miles from my house. There is a BP gas station truck stop where I usually make a "coke run" when I’m riding my mountain bike.
Well, I first noticed the martins flying around the overhang of the BP gas station in the early 80s. This overhang has a long continuous partially open shelf that is about three or four inches wide on its outer edge that can be accessed through a narrow "slit". This "slit" varies in width from just an inch to maybe several inches. This is a continuous shelf that transverses all the way down each side of the outer perimeter of the BP station overhang. There are no partitions to divide the shelf. And yet martins, starlings and sparrows were nesting together in good numbers at various intervals along the open shelf. When I first observed this unusual colony, martins outnumbered both sparrows and starlings and were successful in nesting. I guess there were about 20 pairs of martins nesting. Competition was keen among all three species and the starlings were clearly dominant. Martins kept the sparrows at bay for the most part. However, the truck stop management hated the birds as their droppings soiled the concrete where cars parked to fill up their gas tanks. The colony was completely destroyed one year when all the nests were cleaned out and the overhang painted. But this did not stop the starlings and sparrows. They quickly rebuilt and are still going strong.
Though martins no longer nest there, this truck stop is a premigratory roosting site. The truck stop is very well lighted at night and this is a big attraction to the martins, as they may feel safer from nocturnal predators like owls. The first martins start roosting under the BP station overhang on various support beams usually beginning in mid-May. As the season progresses many more martins come there and often roost on utility lines between the BP station and a motel located about a 100 yards away. Again the truck stop staff has tried to chase the martins away by hanging a fake great horned owl under the overhang. This has failed and the martins still roost. One year I talked with an elderly man who performed light custodial work for the truck stop. He said there were "thousands" of martins roosting under the overhang. He liked the birds and cleaned up their poop each morning. The martins continue roosting here until late June and into early to mid-July.
A Few Other Unusual Sites
I have seen a few other isolated cases of martins nesting in city traffic lights, broken night parking lot lights at the Tallahassee Regional Airport, holes in old buildings, and even in a mailbox once. These have been solitary nesting martin pairs for the most part.
Okay, How Does The Puzzle Look? Do You See The Connection?
Now, what may all these unusual or nontraditional nesting sites tell us about the historical changes in the selection of nesting places by purple martins? I bet you can see how the pieces of the puzzle connect. Think about the following. Perhaps the appearance of the European settlers’ homes, barns, and sheds and also their buildings in towns/cities with many "holes" and other manmade "cavities" triggered the next great purple martin nesting shift. This shift may have also occurred at the same time martins were nesting in gourds provided by Native Americans in the southern states. As the Native American tribes were displaced, so were their gourd colonies. I can imagine that many martins nesting in such colonies lost their nest sites. While the European settlers may have continued the tradition and erected gourds, certainly many martin colonies disappeared. Since martins had already developed an association with humans via Native American colonies, martins may have started frequenting the settlers’ towns, cities, and isolated settlements/homes. The building structures offered potential "cavities" and martins may have started nesting there. Then perhaps a settler notice martins nesting in "cavities" in his home, barn or shed. Then he decided to attach a box or similar container to a pole and erected it nearby. Martins may have nested in it and then the tradition of building and erecting martin houses slowly began.
And what about the northern tier of states? Did Native American tribes provide gourds in New England or the upper mid-West? Is there any historical information on this? Martins in these areas may have been nesting in woodpecker holes/natural cavities and then shifted to "manmade cavities" in buildings/structures of the European settlers. Perhaps northern martins "skipped" the natural gourd connection and shifted directly to the building structures of the European settlers and then to multi-room houses.
Martins may have continued to nest in "building cavities" in cities/towns for many years even after people started erecting houses/gourds in larger numbers. This nesting behavior may have continued because of martin site fidelity and insufficient numbers of multi-room houses/gourds to accommodate the local martin population. The fact that I observed these nontraditional martin colonies during the 60s, 70s, and early 80s does indicate that martins had been nesting at such sites even though there was widespread use of multi-room houses/gourds during those periods of time.
The Quest For Purple Martin Knowledge Will Never End
The study of purple martin past and present nesting behavior is a never-ending quest for knowledge and insight that can help ensure a successful future for this species. While the past is gone forever, we can still learn from it, as history has a funny way of repeating itself. And past purple martin nesting behavior clearly reveals that "cavities" can be either natural or manmade and come in all sizes and shapes. Purple martin association with humans seems to go back many hundreds, maybe thousands of years. The evolution of purple martin nesting behavior has an undeniable common theme: human settlements mean possible nesting "cavities" and a better chance for breeding success. Martins have shown themselves to be historically adaptive and have nested in a variety of holes or "cavity-looking" possibilities. These can be woodpecker holes, gourds, signs, cornices in buildings and other manmade structures, and multi-room birdhouses. Right now, martins in the Eastern United States and Canada nest almost entirely in gourds/multi-room houses. But is there another "cavity-looking possibility" in the future for this species? I just wonder.
Steve Kroenke, Tallahassee, Florida
