From our friends at the University of Windsor.

 Carl Maiolani 519-972-1399,

Membership Secretary,

Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club

 From: Christine Madliger [mailto:madlige@uwindsor.ca]

Bruce Mackenzie, Co-ordinator Grimsby Wetlands, Director Bird Study Group, Hamilton Naturalists’ Club

 Posted some of the work that has been accomplished at the Grimsby wetlands including the installation of a new Troyer 14 compartment Purple Martin house for 2020. Congratulations to you and everyone who have worked so hard to make this a reality!

Hello John,

I just wanted to let you know that we had our Martin House installed on July 16.

Please note the link for our recent work.

https://hamiltonnature.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/WD-volume-73-02-copy.pdf

I received two emails and photographs this past month from our friend at Port Rowan, Louis Kociuk and Ron Delcourt, our OPMA member who manages the Purple Martin colony at Holiday Beach.

Lou indicated that after five years a Troyer 14 compartment house came crashing down on the Long Point Causeway. Shortly thereafter the housing was replaced and was thankfully fully occupied this past summer. The before and after photos are posted below.

Ron sent a photograph of a Natureline gourd rack which came falling down into the pond after a horrific storm in September which felled trees and caused a cancellation of the first weekend of the HBMO Hawkfest.

The Trio grandpa suffered damaged as well but the Troyer 14’s survived the heavy winds . Plans are to replace the gourd rack and to remove the aluminum housing.

Thanks Lou and Ron for sharing!

Save the Date!

Are you interested in hearing the latest research and learning more about Purple Martins? Want to gather with fellow martin enthusiasts and researchers, see an impressive martin roost, and meet PMCA staff?  The next PMCA Purple Martin Conference will be held at the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, OK on July 24 & 25, 2020. Details will be forthcoming so stay tuned.

The PMCA will also be offering sponsorship opportunities and seeking donations of items for auction. If you’d like to learn how you can sponsor or donate, email them at info@purplemartin.org. Hope to see you next July! 

July 24 & 25, 2020
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK

Hello Purple Martinpeople!
Please note that our originally planned date of October 5th is now changed to October 19th, due to a scheduling conflict at Orchard View, and then Thanksgiving occurring the following weekend.  

Meeting details:     Orchard View Golf Course .. October 19 .. 9 am. 

This is our final meeting of 2019, and we hope to see you there, and hear about everyone’s season and experiences with our favourite purple bird!    
Please bring your colony results to share, if you can.

Mary WilsonSecretary-OPMA
519-326-1710

It’s September and the Purple Martins have hatched, fledged, and have learned to forage for themselves. It’s time for both the young martins of the year and their parents to make their seasonal migration trip south for the winter.  Where have your Purple Martin friends gone, when might they return again, and what can you do in the meantime?

Purple Martins are a Neotropical migrant: they go to where food is seasonally abundant. These insectivores travel each fall and again each spring, and spend the greater part of the year not actually on the breeding grounds here in North America but in Brazil, South America. Before they leave, they congregate in large numbers in communal roosts where they spend their nights and forage abroad to return to the Roost each night. They may start forming the roost at the end of July in Ontario and leave at the end of August or early September.  Many of these Roosts can be seen as Doppler images on Weather radar. Although they  spend the winter in Brazil, they can also be found in other central South American countries during the winter non-breeding season, where the longer summer daylight hours allow for long days of insect foraging.

 In late September, lower your houses and/ or gourds, clean out and disinfect the compartments with a bleach solution and block the cavity entrances with pool noodle pieces or clothes pins to keep other unwanted birds out. Leave the houses/gourds on the poles (lowered as far as they go) or if you prefer take the houses down and store them for the winter in a location where they will be kept safe and bug free. Do whichever is most convenient for you.  Sit back and watch the Purple Martins on a Doppler Weather location and track their movement as they move south. Search the internet for up to date information on their whereabouts and when they will return to your area.

After the last visit on August 29th, it appears that both Swallow and Purple Martin numbers have decreased at the Pelee Roost located just off of Mersea Rd. E in Leamington, Ontario. A few stragglers were seen flying overhead but the phragmites did not appear to hold any significant numbers other than the few Tree Swallows who waited to the very last moment to enter. About 300 Tree Swallows were observed flying and staging on lines leading to the roost location. Other Radar Roost Rings on August 31 st indicate significant build ups but it appears that the Pelee Roost has ended and was significantly lower than in 2018. The highlight of the trip was seeing two flocks of Sandhill Cranes flying over the marsh just before sunset.