Birder works to boost purple martin population
The familiar chirp and chatter of a purple martin is a much-anticipated rite of spring to anyone who hosts a colony in a backyard nesting box.
Dennis Shady has welcomed their arrival for years at his home on Ambassador Beach near Colchester.
It’s pure entertainment watching them swoop overhead and hearing their cheerful song after they return mid-April from wintering in South America.
“What’s great about purple martins is that they’re very interactive with us,” Shady said.
Indeed, purple martins prefer to have human housing nearby their nesting sites.
Like many songbirds, the purple martin population is in significant decline across North America, prompting several studies to understand why and develop remedial strategies.
As a member of the Ontario Purple Martin Association, Shady is doing his part to provide a safe habitat.
“I’m going to fledge about 200 birds this year,” he said of the young martins that will hatch from the multiple housing units he provides on two poles.
“We’ve got a fair number of landlords in this area. That’s what’s kind of holding up the martin population around here, the dedication of the club.”
As aerial insectivores, purple martins feed exclusively on flying insects, several of which are crop-destroying bugs.
“It’s a valuable species because it eats billions of insects every year and its loss would cause ripples all across the food chain,” said Joe Siegrist, president of the Purple Martin Conservation Association based in Pennsylvania.
Siegrist said the purple martin would already be long gone if not for its historical interaction with Native Americans who hung hollowed out gourds for nesting.
Purple martins lost the battle for natural habitat to invasive species such as English house sparrows and European starlings back in the late 1800s.
Efforts such as Shady’s to offer housing are crucial to the species.
“Absolutely, that’s the way these birds are being saved by all these local grassroots groups and word of mouth,” Siegrist said.
“Ontario is a place that really needs help.”
According to the latest North American Breeding Bird Survey, the population of Ontario purple martins has declined at a rate of 4.63 per cent annually between 1966 and 2015.
“They’re in trouble and they need our help,” said Megan MacIntosh, the purple martin coordinator for Nature Canada in Ottawa.
MacIntosh has been working with several scientific studies tracking migration.
She said there’s a migratory roost at Point Pelee and the largest in North America is on Walpole Island.
The program has since expanded to help raise awareness about the species and its importance to Canadians.
“We’ve done work to improve habitat and increase habitat,” she said.
Purple martins like to nest near water and prefer a location that offers an open swooping area.
“It’s important to spread the word that they need humans to provide nesting habitat,” Siegrist said.
In the past, researchers have used GPS and geolocators to help track the martins.
This summer, MacIntosh said they will be tagging 60 birds at both Holiday Beach and Long Point with some new technology using radio transmitters.
Birds will be outfitted with tiny backpacks that emit a signal and allows for tracking daily movement that will help identify roosting sites.
MacIntosh anticipates the tagging to begin by mid July.