The purple martin is a colony nester. It travels from southern Mexico and nests on familiar grounds after migrating. New Jersey birds start arriving around April 15. Native Americans, then colonial farmers looking to protect their crops provided hollow gourds to attract the birds which eat flying insects. The colony sticks together, like good neighbors.
Babies are hard to keep fed, and parents need to hunt constantly for flying insects
Over time, invasive European starlings and swallows drove many of the martins from their traditional nesting areas. They have now conditioned themselves to nesting almost exclusively in human provided martin homes on the east coast.
Their “landlords” go to great lengths to attract the songbirds. A gourd-born martin usually only nests in a gourd. A house-born martin lives only in a similar structure. Landlords clean them out each winter, storing them to prevent invaders, making sure holes are just right for the martin.
The easiest place to see them in our area is along Wreck Pond in Spring Lake Heights.
Glyn Stauder has been attracting them to the triangle along Shore Road in large numbers by his house since 1980, but their history goes further back.
In the 1960s, J.L. Wade wrote a book about the town of Griggsville Illinois, and its project to attract purple martins to eliminate the need for chemical insecticides. They started in 1962 with a few bird enthusiasts, and by 1964 the town was known as the “Purple Martin Capital of the World”, and their successful efforts for mosquito control without toxic sprays became a hit around the nation.
Glyn grew up visiting his grandfather in Sea Girt. William Stauder was Chairman of the Board of Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Glyn’s parents had a small bungalow of their own in Spring Lake Heights.
Sea Girt had caught the purple martin wave of the late ‘60s. Long-time Public Works Director Clarence Cornelius of 706 Philadelphia, local dentist Dr. Fred Warnke of 114 New York Blvd., and Glyn’s grandfather at 301 Chicago all had martin houses.
Purple martins born in a condo, will nest in a condo
The Doc was the most successful host for the birds, and everyone knew the Warnkes. Dr. Fred and his wife Elizabeth were successful with children as well.
Elizabeth was pregnant in December of 1949, when she caught polio, six years before the vaccine was developed. She was weakened considerably, but her good spirit and optimism was celebrated by local papers when she was released from the hospital in January 1950.
In February 1950 she gave birth to triplet girls, Jane, Margaret and Elizabeth, who averaged three pounds. There was no way that the recovering Mrs. Warnke could take care of the girls, and the community rallied around her.
Mrs. Carolyn Mueller, the widowed mother of 17 of her own children took charge of a group of volunteers, centered around Holy Trinity Lutheran in Manasquan. They organized two shifts of three women, one for each baby, and they helped the family get through those first couple of months. Almost every year the triplet’s birthday was noted in the local news. The dentist added a boy and two more girls to the brood, and he retired after 25 years of practicing in Sea Girt in 1973 and spent more time on his purple martins.
Glyn’s grandfather’s martin house stayed empty most of the time. Glyn thought there were too many trees close to them. In 1980, he took his grandfather’s martin condo to the Spring Lake Heights home of his father and learned to make his own gourds. Doc Wenke still had a large flock in Sea Girt.
When Fred Wenke became ill in the mid-1980s, Glyn Stauder took care of the flock of birds for Mrs. Warnke, and he slowly transitioned the flock to Shore Road before Elizabeth died in 1988, two years after Fred had passed. The dentist’s house was torn down shortly after, so he had saved the flock.
Bird watchers, neighbors, and schoolchildren all enjoy the martins. Spring Lake Heights is supportive of the contribution it makes to the community.
The martin’s dark black feathers shine purple as they dart about grabbing insects out of mid-air. The mothers have lighter plumage, but the same purple heads. Couples take turns guarding the nest, and seeking food. Their songs and acrobatics make the April 15-August 15 a local treat.
If you look across Wreck Pond from Shore Road to Sea Girt you will see another series of martin gourds hung near the water’s edge. A Beacon Blvd. neighbor is continuing the 60-year tradition in the area.
A newer home for the area martins, this one in Sea Girt.