Martin Island

By Rick Cruz

In the spring of 2001, PMSNA Executive Director, Terry Suchma, and her husband, Ed, purchased a prime piece of martin real estate in Plainfield, IL. This was not an ordinary piece of property. Once a limestone / gravel strip mine area for a local cement company 50 years ago, it is comprised of four hundred acres of water dotted with small islands covered in dense brush and trees. This area is undeveloped. Several sportsmen’s clubs own it currently so the water and land around it have been used for hunting, fishing and trap shooting. This land abounds in wildlife. The water has trophy-sized bass and panfish. Turtles bask on the many downed trees lining the shoreline. Deer, rabbit, coyote, raccoon, opossum, skunk, muskrat and beaver all reside in the area. There is also a major abundance of birds: Songbirds like Catbirds, Northern Orioles, thrashers, woodthrush, Belted Kingfishers, as well as shorebirds such as Green Back Herons, Great Blue Herons, Cormorants, Muted Swans and assorted ducks can be seen and heard throughout the summer.

Though the surrounding area is very large, Ed and Terry purchased fourteen acres. Most of it water. What little buildable land there is will barely fit a home and sits upon a small bluff overlooking the water. Last year, I spent a lot of time there assessing the property’s potential for cavity-nesting birds. I put up boxes for Tree Swallows, Wood Ducks, and woodpeckers. I was to have a wood duck nest and a few pairs of Tree Swallows and a pair of Northern Rough-Winged swallows thrilled last year. Of course, there had to be a Purple Martin house. The problem was that there is really no good area for a martin house. Large Cottonwood and Box Elder trees cover the peninsular part of the lot. The understory there is so thick with honeysuckle that it is inaccessible during the growing season. Sprinkled among the live trees are more seasoned dead snags then one can count. Many are lined with woodpecker holes. There is no shoreline of which to speak. Being an old quarry, the shoreline is rather steep and thick with growth.

This left me gave in a quandary. The Executive Director of the Purple Martin Society needs to have Purple Martins. The way this lot is situated, once a home is built, it is going to be a difficult area to properly place a land-based martin colony. I was also very concerned about the martins’ safety when it came to accipiters. This area could harbor several species of birds-of-prey all year long and the dense foliage cover would only aid them in raiding a martin colony. I had only one option. Place the martin housing in the most open area. The middle of the lake.

In the previous summer, in reconnaissance mode, I took out a rowboat and looked for the perfect spot for martin house placement. I had my doubts. There are no buildings visible or anywhere near 250-300 feet away. There was no way I could set up a pole ten to fifteen feet in the air. Besides, the odd fisherman on some occasions, there really is no one around. It was a really odd feeling considering that Illinois’ fifth largest city is only two miles away.

I had another problem. Strip mine lakes have steep drop-offs with deep water. You never know where these will occur. If I was going to place a martin house in open water, far from land, I needed to find a way to place it in the water, yet still be able to practice all the management techniques that all of us landlords value so much.

After rowing about, checking water depth and remembering landmarks, I decided on a spot. I decided that come spring of 2001 there would be a martin house in this spot some way, some how.

All through the winter, I kept thinking of how to get a birdhouse to stand in the middle of this lake. My first idea was to pound a pole into the lake bottom. This would have worked fine if it was sand or mud bottom but the bottom of this lake was impenetrable rock, slate and stone. Just getting a fence pole with a Wood Duck box on it was a nightmare. Plus the area I had chosen had a lake bottom incline running from five feet to eight quickly. There was also the added burden of checking a house like this from a boat, fishermen, or others, in small boats bumping into it, and the difficulty in removing it once winter returns. My next thought was to design a removable base to attach the pole and sink it. But I still had the same problems to deal with. Commonly on tree-lined water frontages, another choice was to put it at the end of a dock or pier. Trouble here was the surrounding shoreline is a good fifteen feet above the water line.

This was what gave me the idea of a floating dock.

A swim platform was more like it. Most lakes with a beach have swim platforms. There, kids swim out to a wooden planked deck attached to a few 55-gallon barrels. This is what I needed. It solved all my problems. I could have a walking floor on which to do nestchecks and routine martin maintenance. It was out in the open away from trees. No boats could bump into it. It wouldn’t crash into the water during a storm. Plus, I could remove it in the winter.

The idea was born.

Martin Island.

Martins arrived in the Plainfield, IL area on 4/5 that year. I was just putting up the last of my experimental housing that I had been working on all winter when the first male showed up. I realized I had not even begun to get Martin Island together. It was just a loose bunch of fragments in my overworked brain. I really did not get it together until 5/1. Basically, I arrived at a simple design. Not much different then building a porch deck.

I was given four polyvinyl 55-gallon food-grade drums. I really do not know where to purchase such an item. Once, I saw them at Sam’s Warehouse. I do know that people were buying them for the Y2K scare last year. My drums once held window-washing fluid. They had two small screw-on ports for pouring in this fluid. I unscrewed them, ran a bead of silicon caulk inside and resealed them. These barrels were to be the foundation of Martin Island. I decided to make the island 8' x 8'. This was the largest size I could put together and move myself. I also figured it would be the cheapest and most energy sufficient. Originally, I planned on making it one large piece, but I had to make it away from the lake, and somehow, transport it to the launch site. I have access to a large straight truck but it is just short of eight feet wide in the transport box. I realized I would not be able to get it to its destination once it was built. Then, I decided to make it in two separate sections and pre-assemble it. This way I could put it together at the launch site. My simple idea had now become two 4' x 8' wooden decks each with two barrels underneath on each corner to make it float.
I now had a working idea and started purchasing the material.

LUMBER (pressure treated)
(5) 2" x 6" x 8' (framing / length)
(8) 2" x 6" x 4' (framing / width)
(14) 1" x 8" x 8' (platform decking)
(2) 2" x 4" x 4' (center support)
(4) 2" x 4" x 4' (barrel framing)
(2) 2" x 4" x 4' (poles support)
(2) 4" x 4" x 4' (notched center-upright for mounting poles)

HARDWARE (galvanized)
(100+) large 5/16" washers
(40) 5/16" x 4" lag bolts (framing)
(10) 5/16" x 5 ½" hex bolts w/nuts (pole attachments)
(4) 1" x 6" hex bolts w/nuts, lock washers (to join platform sections)
(8) 2" x 6' 14-gauge, flat straps w/holes (barrel straps)
(32) 5/16" x 3" hex bolts w/nuts (attaching straps)
(200) 2 ½" decking screws
(2) large screw-in eyehooks (tie-downs on platform)
(2) large 1' eyebolts w/nuts (attaching rope to anchor)
(4) u-bolts or muffler clamps (hold poles in place)

OTHER ITEMS (all necessary)
(4) bags of concrete.
(2) scrap truck wheel rims
(1) 20' nylon composite rope. (depending on water depth)
(4) polyvinyl 55-gallon food-grade barrels
(1) tube of Silicone sealant
TOOLS
compound miter saw
socket set
cordless drill
assorted drill bits
tape measure
pliers
utility knife
5-gallon bucket for mixing concrete

These items are all the things that I used. I may be short some hardware here and there. I always buy a few extras since I am prone to forget, or lose, something during the building process. I must also state that I really had no technically drawn plan for this project. It was mostly done in my head straight to the workshop. Any problems I encountered, along the way, were dealt with on the spot.

Once all the material was purchased, I started to build the basic frame first. It is no different then building a deck or a porch. The 2" x 6’s made the frames, 8' x 4'. Once each frame was complete, the 1" x 8" decking was screwed on to the frames.

After the decking was attached, I turned the frames over to attach the barrels. The barrels were placed flush to the outside corners. They were held snug in place by the inside 2 x 6 frame and another piece along the opposite side. A small 2" x 4" was attached at the back end completing a holding frame for the barrel beneath the decking. Once the barrels were snug, I strapped them tightly to the platform with (2) 6-foot galvanized steel straps. These were bolted to the two 2" x 6’s on each side. This was done until I had two separate completed 8' x 4' decks.

One deck was to hold the 4" x 4" posts that would ultimately serve as the mounting posts for the martin house poles. These two posts were purchased with a notch on each end to rest on top and along the side of a 2" x 6" or 2" x 4". They were mounted on the inside middle, four feet apart, resting against the 2" x 6" of each of the barrels beneath.

In order to attach the two separate decks, an 2" x 6" x 8' was cut into four 20-inch pieces. These were screwed on to the outside of the inside end of the post holding deck. The extra two inches these boards produce allow the martin poles to be lowered to any given height without hitting any lumber beneath. One-inch holes were now drilled through both attaching ends of the separate decks. They were then bolted together to form one 8' x 8' platform.

The martin houses, chosen for this project, were modified Trio Grandpas. Terry calls them Trio Triples. They are three floors in height with nine large, two-room suite compartments each, complete with adjustable half-moon starling resistant entrances. They also had a cable winch system more common on Trio Castles. I decided that height was not an issue with this project, so I did not use the bottom section of the 3-piece pole that comes with this martin house system. In order to attach the poles, I used two 2"x 2" x 4’s u-bolted to the poles. This allowed me to set the height of the poles before I would mount them to the platform. Two holes were drilled in each of the 2 x 4s and 4" x 4" posts so they could be attached on the spot. A small section of 1" x 8" decking was cut away below each 4" x 4" mounting post to allow the bottom of the martin pole to go through the decking into the water that would be below it. (Be careful not to drop pole in water while mounting; I learned the hard way!)

Anchoring this floating island was a bit of a problem. I needed something heavy enough to keep such a large floating item in one place, yet light enough to carry and lift. At the same time I realized that, once the anchor was dropped into the water, there would be little chance of it coming out again. I managed to get two old semi-truck wheel rims. Many tire places for these vehicles scrap old damaged ones for next to nothing in cost. These would make perfect molds to hold concrete. Each rim weighed about 25lbs. I mixed 1-½ bags of concrete in small amounts in a 5-gallon bucket and poured it into the rim. When I reached the halfway mark, I inserted a one-foot long eyebolt into the wet cement. I left a large nut on the end to help it hold once the concrete set. Each anchor now weighed 120-180lbs. Simply because I used more concrete then I needed, one weighed more.

Everything was pre-assembled in my shop to make sure everything fit properly before I decided to launch. It was then disassembled and loaded into a 14-foot straight truck. Since the lake, in which it was going, has no homes around it yet, or any electrical power, the island had to be made off-site for easy assembly on the shoreline.

Once transported to the location, the two separate pieces were joined in the shallows along a narrow channel that leads to the main body of the lake. This was not the way I chose to do this but the steep shoreline along the lake made it impossible to assemble and launch from any other position. Once the two separate halves were joined, the martin pole/house assemblies, anchors and tools were placed onboard. A trolling motor was attached to the heaviest anchor and the floating island made its journey to its final destination, about one quarter of a mile away.

It only took a few minutes to make our way to the main section of the lake. Once there, we positioned ourselves on to the specific spot that I determined the past year. I tied on a 10' length of rope to each anchor. When the correct compass position was determined, I dropped the lightest anchor overboard. I pulled the island into position and tied off the rope to a screw-in eyehook mounted in the middle of the side I was on. I followed the same procedure with the other anchor. I looped the excess rope around two bolts on each side.

This was the moment of truth.

There was a light wind from the south, which only allowed the island to move back and forth. The compass direction never changed, and, more importantly, it held fast. Each 55-gallon barrel is capable of supporting 455lbs. When it was launched, the platform had the weight of 2 grown men (4 including the anchors), a trolling motor with battery, martin houses, and tools. Not once did it sit low in the water.

The martin pole assemblies were bolted onto the two 4" x 4" center posts. I set the height of the houses at 7-foot. The bottom of the poles went through the floor and into the water. The winch assemblies sit on top of 4 " x 4" posts. The houses lower with ease to a four-foot height. Two or more, people can walk about comfortably and with stability. Everything was complete. The only thing missing was martins.

Martin Island was hatched and launched. Martin Island was a reality!

Martin Island was launched during the first weekend in May. The only way to it is by boat. Martin Island is difficult to see from the nearest road because of the thick trees that line the steep bank. Within a few days, starlings took control over the housing. The height of the adjustable SREH was not set correctly due to a quick storm coming up on the day of launch. A second trip a few days later, by rowboat, to correct that problem ended the starling occupation. Yet, it did not stop two pairs of House Sparrows from colonizing Martin Island.

By 5/14, martins were seen flying around the island.

There was a tremendously unseasonable warm spell here in IL during this time. Another trip to the island excitedly revealed a single pair of SY martins that moved in despite iron-clawed occupation by House Sparrows.

The female martin was particularly tame. She refused to fly away despite being only 18-inches from my head. Closer inspection reveled that I had banded her sometime last year. I could only read my initial that precedes my band number.

It appears that Martin Island has done what I hoped it would do. Attract martins the first year without any dwelling nearby. No round holes. And, no constant sparrow control.

It was my intention to place good martin housing in a superior area that challenged all the long-held martin rules and regulations that we have come to believe and followed. While the jury is still out on this subject, Martin Island passed its first test by attracting martins to nest.

The first week in June has been a weather nightmare. The northern area of IL has been hit with cold, wet, rainy weather for three weeks. Many local martins abandoned their eggs and/or small young at the time. A loss is inevitable but how bad has not yet been determined. In this time, one pair of brave, pioneering martins has claimed a hole and has built a nest. They have seen the weekly removal of House Sparrows despite their landlords’ difficulty in getting there. The female is still as unafraid as ever. And, it seems the pair are patiently waiting for the weather to break and will nest. With any luck, late arriving subadult martins will find this site just as attractive as the first Martin Island pioneers did.

This floating island was simple to design and build. All of the hardware was bought at local hardware stores. Any variation to fit one’s particular needs can be made. Mine may have been more complex then it needed to be because of the circumstances involved in transporting and the lake topography. My design is one of infinite variations that anyone, needing to get martins out into open water, can use. I am not a carpenter, or engineer, by trade. I use simple tools and equipment that is available to me. It seems like a great idea for someone struggling to find the open flyways that martin’s desire.