Thanks to the support of MRVAC, a Purple Martin house was installed in the summer of 2010 along the shoreline restoration area of Lake Hiawatha in Minneapolis. Funds were also contributed by the Standish-Ericsson Neighorhood Association, with the support and assistance of the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board. Hundreds of people walk, run, bike, roller-blade, or picnic by this location every day. Hopefully there will come a time when city residents can enjoy the sight of Purple Martins hawking insects over Lake Hiawatha.
Purple Martins, our largest American swallow, are unique: they are the only songbird that is nearly completely dependent on human-supplied housing for reproduction. Native Americans fostered martin colonies in their campsites, hanging clusters of hollowed-out gourds. Purple Martins were seen as beneficial insect-eaters and as an early warning system for the campsite. European settlers continued the tradition, installing gable-roofed martin houses at their farms near a lake or pond.
Purple Martin houses, with their white multi-unit houses mounted on tall poles, were once a common sight on Minnesota farms. But with fewer family farms, and the invasion of non-native House Sparrows, Purple Martin numbers have plummeted—down an alarming 78% since 1966. The population continues to decline 3.9% each year, according to the Audubon Breeding Bird Survey and the East Central Minnesota Purple Martin Recovery Project (www.purplemartinrecovery.org). For more information on martins, visit MNmartin.org.
Unfortunately, with less housing available, Purple Martin numbers will only continue to decline. Over the centuries, this species has come to co-exist with human settlements, becoming totally dependent on human-provided housing. It is now our responsibility to provide housing in order to preserve the species in Minnesota. Daryl LIndstrom, of the East Central Minnesota Purple Martin Recovery Project, spoke at the MRVAC meeting in March 2010 about Purple Martins. His presentation was a big impetus to proposing a martin colony along the city lakes.
The martin house consists of 12 gourds (“Troyer horizontal gourds with Conley II entrances”), specially designed to deter non-native species such as European Starlings and House Sparrows. The gourds will remain up into early fall, in hopes of attracting migrating sub-adults on the look-out for available housing where they can start their own colony this spring. The nearest known active Purple Martin colony is at the Braemar Golf Course in Edina, about eight miles away. Wish us luck!
