Today’s My Story is written by Kathy Freeze of Licking. Submit a My Story on any subject to salemnews@thesalemnewsonline.com or P.O. Box 798, Salem, MO 65560.
Twenty centuries ago in Nazareth, while playing with his friends, Jesus made some delicate bird figurines with clay from a nearby creek.
While they were playing, a Pharisee who was passing by started screaming at them: "Don't you know that today is Sabbath day and you are not allowed to do any type of work?" Immediately he tried to squash the figurines with his foot, but Jesus extended his hand and the birds began to fly.
That is the way the swallows were created. These same swallows later made their nests on the roof of Jesus' home.
Many years later, when Jesus was already a man and was on his way to be crucified, the swallows were desolate as they followed Him. The Teacher was going to die and a stream of blood mixed with tears was running down his face. The little birds then, one by one, took the thorns of the crown off the magnificent face. At that moment the Earth trembled and the sky was clouded over.
From that day on swallows acquired the mourning cloak that they still carry.
Hosting the Purple Martin in Missouri
After a long migratory trek from South America, a soaring, darting, chattering flock of adult purple martins will arrive in South Central Missouri around mid-March this year. The sub-adult martins, young from last year's nesting, will arrive in Missouri in large numbers a few weeks later. If you've hosted martins before, you will see the same ones at your site again because these birds will migrate back to the same exact spot.
If you have never hosted purple martins before, then now is a good time to start learning about this fun, exciting hobby and what it takes to become a martin landlord. Some landlords are deeply involved in managing their martin colonies, becoming amateur biologists, while others choose not to be very involved.
The level of involvement in the management of your colony can be as little or as much as you choose. This can range from simply putting up a martin house and protecting them from predators to keeping records of your colony's success by recording numbers of pairs, their ages, conducting nest checks and participating in research studies by reporting your data to the Purple Martin Conservation Association (PMCA).
At a minimum, when erecting housing to host birds, a landlord should provide safe housing, free from predators in an open-flyway area. Landlords with very little time to manage their colony can use housing with restrictive entrances to prevent starlings from taking over their housing and killing the martins. A variety of predator guards are also available for your poles to protect your martins from snake, raccoon and other critter attacks.
If you are thinking about becoming a new purple martin landlord this year, then here are some things you should know:
• The single most important thing you can do to attract a purple martin to your site is to choose a proper place for your housing. Locating new housing in the most open area of your yard provides the birds with open flyways. When martins are searching for new homes, it is all about location, location, location!
• Once you've attracted martins to your site, it is important to keep them as safe as possible from predators such as cats, raccoons, snakes, owls, hawks, starlings and English house sparrows. If martins suffer a devastating attack from any of these predators, they may abandon your site for safer colonies. If landlords aren't able to engage enough to protect them from predators, the overall effect can be detrimental to not only martins but other native cavity-nesting birds as well.
In future articles I will be offering more details about purple martins in Missouri, choosing the best housing, identifying the best location for housing, how to attract them, controlling predators and ensuring your colony thrives and grows year after year.
If you are interested in receiving Kathy Freeze's monthly Purple Martin Newsletter, please send an email to purplemartin@centurytel.net with the word "Subscribe" in the subject line or call her at (573) 674-4831.
