Ed
Donath, A Man Who Loves His Martins
The
Purple Martin Society, NA thanks The
Nature Society News for its permission to
use this article.
Reprinted
with permission from the December 2002 issue
of Nature Society News of Griggsville, Illinois.
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Dear
News,
Martins
aren’t feeder birds but do occasionally need assistance.
During
June of this year I visited Ed Donath in Arlington Heights,
Illinois to learn more about his technique for feeding
scrambled eggs to purple martins during poor weather
and other times of stress (e.g. while feeding large chicks
and large broods). When I arrived at Ed’s home,
he had already set-up a ladder by his orange star feeder,
which has been described in previous issues of the News.
PMSNA
Archive Photo
1996
Founder's Award: This photo shows the 1996 Purple
Martin Society, NA Founder's Awardees (Pictured
from left to right: Ed Kasperski, Nick Butler,
Ed Donath)
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The
ladder provided me with a good line of view for
photographing the martins at the feeder. They were
busy hunting for insects over Ed’s neighborhood.
Many of them were catching dragonflies for their
large chicks. Ed diced a patty that was made from
two scrambled eggs. The pieces ranged from 1/4” cubes
to some measuring about 1/4”x1/4”x1/2”.
He rang a small bell to let the martins know that
brunch was being served. They ignored the invitation
initially.
Ed
had explained that the martins generally would
not eat eggs when insects are plentiful. Seeing
an unfamiliar person near the feeder might have
also discouraged them. After about a half hour
the birds started coming to the feeder cautiously,
and slowly their numbers in-creased. Even a cardinal
stopped for a snack. A sparrow briefly tried
the eggs, but wasn’t impressed and left.
Chickadees do enjoy the eggs.
The
birds initially satisfied their own hunger and
then began bringing eggs to their chicks. Once
the parents and chicks were satiated, the parents
perched on the houses and began to sing as they
took a well-deserved break.
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Several
years ago the martins were trained to accept the eggs
by initially being offered mealworms in small dishes
that were placed on the porches of the houses. Once mealworms
were accepted, the dishes were slowly placed on supports
located further from the houses until dishes were placed
onto the feeder. Pieces of scrambled eggs were included
with the mealworms.
Hard-boiled
eggs were tried first, but they crumbled too easily.
Either by accident or by design the birds began to eat
eggs as well as the mealworms, which were then phased
out until only the less expensive eggs were offered.
While martins may not be considered to be feeder birds,
Ed’s patience and ingenuity have changed that notion.
In an average year his martins eat about 60 dozen eggs.
Ed
rarely loses a martin to starvation. The new birds in
his colony learn how to use the feeder by observing the
experienced birds. One day Ed saw an SY female fly to
the feeder and just stand on some pieces of eggs while
other birds were eating. She did not know that the eggs
were food. Then one of the more experienced birds started
to pluck the eggs away from the female’s feet.
She finally tasted the eggs and began eating them.
The
martins get such great support from Ed that they even
tolerate their houses being close to tall trees. The
supporting poles for two of his houses can swing down
for monitoring while the houses swivel to keep the floors
parallel with the ground. Other houses can be monitored
with the aid of a winch.
Some
additional comments and observations are given below:
-
Light
bulbs are used to heat houses during cold weather.
In some cases Christmas tree bulbs are used for heating
individual rooms. Each house is well ventilated and
is equipped with a water mister for hot weather.
-
Polystyrene
foam nests are used in each nesting chamber. ASY females
build nests in the bowl of the foam and line the bowl
with green leaves before laying eggs. This saves them
some time that was lost by arriving at the houses later
than the ASY females. Some SY females are harassed
so much by SY males that the females are killed. By
minimizing their need for nest building the young females
are harassed less. The foam also insulates metal floors
during cold weather.
-
Crushed
eggshells are only provided during the egg laying
period to support egg production by the females.
During the
rest of the breeding season crushed cuttlebone
is mixed with the scrambled eggs to provide phosphorus
for good
bone development. Separate dishes containing 1/8” diameter
pieces of oyster shells, coral and quartz or granite
are also provided as grit for the bird’s
gizzards.
-
To
reduce stress on the parents some young chicks from
large broods are removed from their nests and placed
into nests with smaller broods of chicks of the same
age.
-
Many
of the nesting chambers have 6”x12” floors.
Starlings are not a problem because they are very
efficiently trapped in the winter while there is
snow cover on
the ground. During this time starlings have limited
opportunities to find food and are more likely
to enter traps that contain kitchen scraps.
-
The
Spare-O-Door can be made more efficient by spreading
the two trigger wires outward. This reduces the chance
of a sparrow tripping the trap when the nesting chamber
is first entered and allows the mate to have a chance
to also enter. When one of the birds finally trips
the trap both of them can be caught at one time.
-
Fledglings
from Ed’s colony are generally larger than
those he has seen fledged from other colonies.
His birds
also fledge with strong bones, good initial flying
strength and longer tail feathers.
Ed
is a dedicated and innovative purple martin landlord.
He continues to experiment with new ideas that might
help to improve the success of his colony that averages
18 to 20 pairs.
Michael
Swanson / North Aurora, Illinois
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