This month we are pleased to introduce Bruce Moore as our Landlord Spotlight. Bruce lives in Fairmont, MN. His landlord story is taken from an excerpt he wrote for a local paper.
I became acquainted with these birds when I was a young lad visiting my grandmother’s farm in the early 50s. She had a martin house that was home to many martins and I spent a lot of time watching them flying about and listening to their vocal chatter. Over time it became overrun by sparrows and starlings and the martins disappeared.
I became more interested in the 1980s when I purchased my first martin house and tried to get them to occupy it. I was mostly unsuccessful and found out that they don’t like big trees nearby so I only had a few pairs over the years. In 2008 we built a house on a bare lot with plenty of open space and a wetland nearby. The first year (2009) I had 2 pairs of martins! This past summer I had 30 pairs and was at full capacity. They fledged about 130 young that flew away in mid-August with their parents to their winter home in Brazil. Some of them will likely return about April 11, give or take a few days to entertain my neighbors and me for another summer and then leave for Brazil in mid-August. It will take them a month or two to get there as they migrate a little at a time, resting along the way.
I learned most of what I know about Purple Martins (Progne subsis) from the Purple Martin Conservation Association, a couple of experienced friends, and my own successes and failures.
I have a modified Castle, 3 natural gourds (I grew 25 years ago), 3 Troyer horizontal gourds, and 12 Super Gourds for a total of 30 choices for the martins. I do nest checks each week and report my results to PMCA in September. For the past two years, all of the compartments and gourds were “no vacancy” and approximately 130 flew away in mid-August this year. Counting adults, that’s 160 martins in my yard alone! Another landlord friend and I do maintenance on about 122 other nests at city parks, senior living sites, and older people’s homes. All of them are well-established locations.
– Bruce Moore
Thank you for sharing your story with us, Bruce! If you are a landlord and want to share your story, please email [email protected].