For the month of October, we are excited to introduce Wendy Thomas as our Landlord Spotlight.
My name is Wendy Thomas. I live in St Andrews, Manitoba located about 10 minutes north of Winnipeg. I would love to share my purple Martin story with you all as it is special.
In 2012, we lost our mother to multiple myeloma. About a year before that her best friend, my father, was taken from her to colon cancer. They had this beautiful Purple Martin house in their yard and they cherished the moments when the martins came back each year to have their babies.
After my mother died, her house remained unattended. One year, there was a terrible storm that passed through St. Andrews and took it down. One Purple Martin was lost. I wanted to put the house back up and continue the quest for martins since I knew they would come back each year to have their babies. Unfortunately, one year became 2 years and life got in the way of those plans. This is where my story begins.
I bought a Purple Martin house while I was fixing up my mom’s old house. I put it up with my husband and waited patiently for martins to come… Nothing. That was a sad year. Winter came and I thought it best to put up the old house my mom had. Maybe with some luck they would come. So that winter (we have very short summers here in Manitoba!) I fixed balconies, repainted, put new screws in, and replaced a few broken pieces that the house had sustained from the storm from a few years prior. That summer of 2020 we had a few martins visit and check out both houses. They would play and fly in the sky high over our pool and taunt me every time they went into the houses. I would grab my binoculars to spy on them, I even bought a Purple Martin Songbird Magnet to attract them. Still that year, nothing.
I was about to give up in 2021, but as February came around my lovely husband got me some muck boots. He really didn’t know I wanted one more martin house. So, I traded in my mucks for yet one more martin house. That May I put up my new house. Then a wonderful thing happened! Two martins took interest in my mother’s old house. They kept going in and out of the holes. Sitting on the perch and flying around, then 2 more came flying around! And then another! Five in all!! I couldn’t be happier. I did the landlord checks every week while they were checking out my houses. I even flooded my water trough where the horses get water to make wet mud, as that year was terribly dry for us. I spent most of my holidays those 2 weeks in June just watching these Purple Martins going in and out of houses. I watched them gather straw and mud. I held my breath and hoped that something amazing would happen. Well finally around June 15, while doing my weekly nest checks, we finally had eggs! No one, not two, but 5! Then 6, then 8!
I was happy and amazed that they chose my houses to start their families! It was such an amazing thing. Now I hope and wait excitedly for June to arrive so I can count the eggs.
-Wendy Thomas
Thank you for sharing your story with us, Wendy. If you are a landlord and want to share your story, email [email protected].