Here is your purple things in nature fact of the day. Although they aren't what I consider to be truly purple in appearance, I am eagerly awaiting the return of my purple martins. Based on my phenolgy records, it will be any day now. It astounds me how they can come back from South America and find my particular property in Ohio year after year. Interestingly, nearly all eastern purple martins rely soley on human-provided nest houses and gourds. This relationship with humans goes back to pre-colonial times when the Chereokee would hollow out gourds to encourage the birds to nest near them and help control insect pests. The eastern martin population may start to decline unfortunately due to the fact that most martin "landlords" are over 50 and younger generations lack the enthusiasm or resources to put up housing. #purple #natureclub #birds #purplemartins

Posted by Mel Grosvenor at 2021-03-25 13:06:56 UTC