autumn martin news

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Over the coming months, we'll be working away at some equipment for next year's housing efforts. It will be months until we see a martin again here in Wisconsin, but although things have shifted gears, the Purple Martin Partners in southeastern Wisconsin will continue moving forward. If you would like to join us, contact Bill Mueller at iltlawas@earthlink.net at any time. We are gathering used martin houses or gourds in good condition when they are donated to us, and we have 5 new houses ready to go in spring of 2010!

since we're not seeing any martins now...

You might enjoy reading this fine article about martins in migration.

martin action in MN

See what an active Purple Martin group in Minnesota is up to here, at the East Central Minnesota Purple Martin Recovery organization. They're working hard on behalf of martins there!

donated housing

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Another excellent donated Purple Martin house came to us from Marilyn Bontly by way of the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. This huge multi-apartment house (too big to fit in my car!) has not been used for some years, and will eventually go in one of the Milwaukee County parks with others we are currently refurbishing. Thanks much to Paul Andre who helped with a truck to move this one, and recent donations toward our martin housing effort from Pat Wilborn and others. We still need help with work on these houses, and the erection of new houses yet this year. Contact me if you would like to help: Bill Mueller, Conservation Chair, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, e-mail iltlawas@earthlink.net

martins on the move

Have you seen any martin roosts in your area? This is the time of year to note the sites and spectacular behavior of roosting Purple Martins. See for example this link which tells about a roost having more than 125,000 martins within the last week.

The famous Causeway roost at Lake Pontchartrain often has more than 200,000 birds. Many of these birds have already departed, while our "northern" birds arrive in the southern U.S. (and then depart for their wintering areas) at a later date.

I just checked the Wisconsin eBird site for this past week, and only small numbers of Purple Martins (4-6) were reported from any locations in this state. Let me know if you're seeing larger concentrations, e-mail me at: iltlawas@earthlink.net

refurbishing used martin houses, and a good martin news story

These used houses have not had martins in them for some years. They are in the process of being refurbished and returned to service. Some scraping and painting, a little metalwork, and new poles will make them useful again. If you have used martin housing or gourds that you'd like to donate, let us know (414-698-9108).

My friend and colleague Kim Grveles of WDNR-ER sent me this story today, which she got from Andy Paulios some time ago: on a 1200-acre property in northeastern Adams County, a man has 150 pairs of martins which produced over 700 young in 2007, probably that many again in 2008, and an unknown number this year. He has 10 poles (160 houses) with ultimate plans for at least two additional poles and more houses. He started attracting martins in 1993. Obviously, hard work pays off!

request for assistance with martin housing in southeast WI

If you are willing to help the Purple Martin Partners of southeastern Wisconsin by volunteering a few hours in August and September to help us put up new martin housing, or refurbish used housing, we'd be very glad to have your assistance. If you are interested but have no time to help, we also welcome any donations of cash for materials, and/or used martin housing or gourds in good condition. For more information or to volunteer, contact Bill Mueller, WSO Conservation Chair, 414-698-9108, or e-mail iltlawas@earthlink.net - Thanks in advance for any assistance or donation.

Purple Martin roosts

Purple Martin roosts are now forming in a number of areas in the Unites States. Roost behavior at the largest sites can be observed on NEXRAD. Since many Wisconsin birds are still at nesting sites, it may be a few weeks before any are forming here. But if you see what you think is a roost, you can learn more and report it at the PMCA Project Martin Roost site, here. Remember that PUMA is an early fall migrant, with most birds gone from Wisconsin before September.

new potential PUMA site at WI Humane Society in Milwaukee

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Our good friend Scott Diehl has installed the Purple Martin gourd assembly we provided at the Wisconsin Humane Society, on 45th and Wisconsin, in Milwaukee. Looks great, Scott! Now we'll wait and see if southbound juveniles inspect it next month, along with the other installations we've made this year.

At the Fond du Lac County location where I installed a martin house in May, adults have been coming over from another nearby active colony, perching on this new house, but not staying long. Maybe juveniles will check that one out in August, too. We'll see.

Purple Martin references and resources

Find some Purple Martin references and resources at any of these links:
http://purplemartin.org/update/StarlImpact.html
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/JFO/v069n02/p0316-p0325.pdf
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/projects/scp/assessments/purplemartin.pdf
http://www.purplemartinrecovery.org/Resources.html

I'll be gone for a while. Check back in a few weeks.

Purple Martin Partner news

Bill Holton and some of his monitoring partners have trapped starlings several times at the Grobschmidt Park house. No martins yet.

I have put up the house donated by Karen Johnson, on a rural FDL Co. site. I will be delivering the gourd and pole set to Scott Diehl at Wisconsin Humane this week. I gave the house donated by Marvin C. to a farmer who will paint it and put it up on his land, at the Sheb Co/FDL Co line.

Karen, Betsy, and other have continued to monitor the South Shore colony, which has approx 7 pairs. A House Sparrow pair attempted to nest, but it looks like they moved on, or were removed by the owner of this house.

I traveled to a number of areas in Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Sheboygan counties last Saturday, where I found colonies on Hwy MM in Sheb Co (only one pair), another off of Hwy HHH in Calumet Co near the west end of Charlesburg Swamp (3-4 pairs), a magnificent colony setup with multiple house near Hilbert (Manitowoc Co), which had many pairs last year, but no birds yet this year. An Amish farm on Hwy Q in FDL Co has a few pairs.

If you find others in southeastern WI, we'd like to hear about them.

a new Purple Martin house for Lakeshore State Park, Milwaukee harbor

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Thanks to the gentlemen pictured here for help in setting up a new martin house for Milwaukee's Lakeshore State Park. Thanks also to park manager Tom Kroeger for his assistance and support of this effort. Special thanks to Bill Holton, Owen Boyle, Paul Hunter, and Todd Wilson for work with drills, wrenches, locks, lifting the structure, etc. Without the efforts of all persons involved, we'd have had a lot more trouble and a lot less progress.

Now the next step is up to the martins! While working this evening in the Milwaukee Harbor, we were treated to near fly-bys from Barn Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and Cliff Swallow - maybe they know this is meant for another swallow species - they came near and "checked it out", especially the rough-wings.

We all enjoyed the swallows in front of gorgeous evening clouds, and the martin house against the backdrop of the city.

Purple Martins in Lakeshore State Park?

We'll see. Today Bill Holton, park boss Tom Kroeger and I prepared the hole, and poured concrete for the base for the next martin house in this new, urban state park. More news as the next steps unfold. Want to help? Give me a call at 414-698-9108, or e-mail me at iltlawas@earthlink.net

PUMA nestboxes in Milw Co in the weeks ahead

We've been collecting used and like-new housing for Purple Martins, and we've helped to install one martin house and gourd setup (see previous post). In the weeks ahead, we'll need help with other similar installations. If you can help with refurbishing existing houses that we've collected, or help with putting up housing in Milwaukee County parks, please contact me to volunteer.

Bill Mueller
Conservation Chair, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology
414-698-9108

a new beginning for martins in Milwaukee County

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Thanks to the efforts of Bill Holton and his wife Jill, and Diane Lembck, (all three of the Wisconsin Metro Audubon Society), with a little help from Dr. Paul Hunter and yours truly, there is fantastic new martin house and gourd setup at Grobschmidt Park on the south side of Milwaukee County. Metro Audubon bought the new house, pole setup, and gourds. Bill Holton facilitated the rest, providing skill and tools. Paul and I were part of the crew. This is an extremely well-constructed example of housing for Purple Martins. In one of the photos above you'll see Bill holding the old house that this unit replaces. Kudos to everyone involved; you folks really have class, and this installation is classy, too. Thanks for letting me join you!

Housing for martins needed in Milwaukee County

********************************The Purple Martin is in decline in Wisconsin; see the graphed breeding bird survey results above. You can help: Housing for martins is needed in southeastern WI! If you have unused martin housing and you'd be willing to donate it to our effort, contact me at iltlawas@earthlink.net, or 414-698-9108.

support the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin

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If you're not already familiar with BRAW, learn more about them and their efforts to increase bluebird populations, and those of other native cavity-nesting birds. See their website at http://www.braw.org/

agriculture and birds

Learn about the links betwen agricultural practices and changing bird populations. A brief overview is here at National Audubon's website, and a paper from the Journal of Applied Ecology is given here as a pdf. Yet another paper from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is linked here. Penn State's website has this article. Not all of these are recent papers, but they provide a set of introductory concepts and research results. Click on the Penn State ag magazine to find pdfs to previous articles. An NRCS paper is available here.

Please help us build PUMA numbers in Milwaukee County this year!

We're getting started with a new initiative to increase the Purple Martin population in Milwaukee County parks this year - please help us! We need help with finding and monitoring existing colonies, and enhancing those, plus setting up additional housing in other, new locations. We need volunteer help and donations to purchase housing, gourds, and poles - we'll also gladly accept used martin houses/poles/gourds in good condition.

Write to me for more information:

William P. Mueller
MCAMMP Project Coordinator
Conservation Chair, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology
(414) 698-9108 [cell]
E-mail: iltlawas@earthlink.net
On the web: http://home.earthlink.net/~iltlawas/index.html
Blog: http://bluebirdslaugh.blogspot.com/