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.