Real estate for the martins

from Country Acres - June 18, 2022

Real estate Real estate for the martins

PHOTOS BY GRACE JEURISSEN Birdhouses line the horizon at Jeremy Helmin’s home June 9 near Little Falls. There are currently fi ve purple martin houses on his property.

Helmin provides bird sanctuary in backyard

LITTLE FALLS – Swooping, twirling, singing and fl ight are the sights and sounds from the back deck of Jeremy Helmin’s home in Morrison BY GRACE JEURISSEN | STAFF WRITER County. Though this may invoke images of a circus, or maybe extreme acrobatics, it is far smaller and no peanuts are sold. “I could sit back here and watch them for hours,” Helmin said. “The mornings are my favorite because of the chorus they put on.” When Helmin would sit on his grandmother’s dock while fi shing as a young boy, he would listen to the activity that surrounded the lake. Sounds like frogs, crickets, boat motors and a sweet rolling chirp from the quick shadow that hovered along the lake, fi lled the air. Eventually, curiosity got the best of him and he found out that the rolling chirps were from the purple martins that were in residence at a neighbor’s home. He knew he had to add that wildlife to his home in the country. Between the months of April and August, Helmin’s backyard is plentiful, with around 100 purple martins that formed a colony among his fi ve extravagant birdhouses. Every winter, the martins navigate themselves nearly 5,000 miles to southeastern Brazil to spend their “vacation” before the nesting and breeding season the next

Helmin page 27

Jeremy Helmin builds purple martin houses in his free time. This design would take him about a week to assemble from beginning to end.

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spring. Scientists believe that the species of bird originated as a Brazilian swallow and, over time, adapted a northern migratory pattern to take advantage of the longer summer days during the nesting period. Now a colony makes Helmin’s backyard their summer home. This makes him a martin landlord. “You can watch the migration from Brazil on the internet, so when my neighbors get a purple martin, I can see that and know my colony will be here soon,” said Helmin. Male purple martins are usually the fi rst to arrive at the nesting site. They choose a spot and when the females arrive, they each choose a mate based on the nesting site and secondly, the male himself. Purple martins are monogamous during the mating and nesting season, but rarely repeat their partners the following year. It took Helmin nine years to get his fi rst pair of purple martins to nest in one of his houses. “It was a little discouraging, but I put the house up, so why bother taking it down,” said Helmin. His persistence paid off and, sure enough, after nine unsuccessful years of trying to get a purple martin pair to nest in his backyard, he saw a pair fi nally accept his houses as a home. He was offi cially a martin landlord. The year after the pair established themselves in that house, a few more followed and the colony grew. Though Helmin isn’t positive why it took so long for his houses to become attractive places for the birds, he is glad he held out. Now, he gets to listen to his favorite sound every summer morning. “I really think that my favorite part about them is the sounds they make,” Helmin said. “When they leave in the late summer, it’s so quiet it’s almost creepy.” Not only do purple martins sing a beautiful song, they are also very civil with humans. Most martin landlords can go into the houses and check nests. Sometimes, intervention is encouraged if a nest gets mites, or if there are unwanted visitors trying to make their homes in the houses. Helmin designed the entrances to his houses to fi t a purple martin perfectly. Occasionally, sparrows will try to make the houses their homes, which can cause an upset within the colony. The holes on the houses are small enough that European starlings,

PHOTO BY GRACE JEURISSEN Jeremy Helmin stands between his purple martin birdhouses June 9 at his home near Little Falls. He put his fi rst house up 14 years ago.

PHOTO SUBMITTED Purple martins perch together on a cool day in May. They huddle like this to keep warm.

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