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The Beginning...
My interest in Purple Martins started at the age of thirteen. My neighbor across the street had set up a
large wooden Purple Martin house on top of a telephone pole. I enjoyed watching Frank, who was a big man, each Spring
carry the Purple Martin house up the ladder to the top of the telephone pole. I always watched him in amazement.
I will never forget every year I would see hundreds of martins flying
around the huge martin house. I believe there were around 50 pairs or more. And there were at least 25
or more holes in the entire housing unit.
Although, Frank has now passed away, I still can reminisce about those
wonderful Purple Martin summer days as a kid, each time I visit my home town.
To this day, Frank's telephone pole is still standing.
The Lost Years...The
city was not suitable for luring in Purple Martins. While I was
living in the city and raising my young family, I was not able to feed my interest in Purple Martins. The large city
trees did not allow the martins the freedom to swoop and glide around.
The Year of 1977...That was the year the family
moved to the south end of town in a newly developed subdivision. The subdivision had thirty acres of flat land.
I was one of the first houses built and therefore I had much open land around my home. I put up the aluminum Pioneer
12 Hole house on a telescopic pole with perches. That first year I had one pair. Then for about five subsequent
years I had 4-5 pairs.
The Years Go By...As the neighborhood grew
and more houses were being built and the trees grew taller, then the environment was less desirable for the martins to settle.
They slowly disappeared until they were completely gone. Unfortunately, at that time, there were little or no resources
available on how to best attract Purple Martins. (no World Wide Web in those days!)
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The Age of the Internet...I regained an interest when I started surfing around the world wide web and found numerous websites that educated
and informed me on how to attract the Purple Martins. I give a salute to the Purple Martin Conservation Association.
Because of this informative site, I now had a renewed interest in Purple Martins.
A New Beginning...In 1999, I began with a purchase of a "Dawn
Song" cassette and a Purple Martin decoy. I erected an aluminum house and had no success.
Each year, I would trim the surrounding trees that had overgrown.
Spring of 2002...my first two pair of martins came to scout the
area, but unfortunately, they decided not to stay.
Fall of 2002, I decided to cut down two large trees, which
really opened up a nice area.
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| Martins 2003 |
Spring of 2003, I erected an aluminum house and also hung
up four natural gourds, painted white, below the house. With the "Dawn Song" playing
and the decoys on the house and the newly opened area, I was rewarded with four pairs of Purple Martins!!
Three pairs resided in the gourds and one pair in the aluminum house.
Fall of 2003, I built an aluminum gourd rack to house eight natural
gourds.
Spring of 2004, to my pleasant surprise, I have all eight gourds
occupied, with eight pairs of Purple Martins. Because there was no more available gourd space I decided to erect more
natural gourds from a perch I had in storage. I then was blessed with two more pairs.
Personally, I never thought the day would come that I would be a Purple Martin landlord
again. But, I am here to say, "never give up."
I enjoy the tranquility of watching these beautiful and awesome birds glide and swoop about.
I enjoy listening to the beautiful music they make. Watching and listening to the Purple Martins takes away the
stress of a busy work day. I thank God for creating such a beautiful bird.
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