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Purple Martin Voice
Volume 1(4)
Purple Martin Voice is an eNewsletter distributed by Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas. Issues feature the plights and triumphs of Purple Martins in the Dakotas.
Ways to Help
Help our conservation and research projects so we can continue to provide engaging Purple Martin Voice articles and content. Your donation will help conserve and enhance Purple Martin populations in the Dakotas for you and your friends, for your children and their children. Purple Martins need your help to make a difference today. Thank you for your support!
Donate Any Amount
Volunteer Spotters
Watch for any banded Purple Martins! Send the words Research Projects in the subject line of an email with a way to contact you. Every report is very important.
Volunteer Directors
Each year we choose leaders who guide Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas and address the interests and needs of our organization. Leaders need to be innovative and visionary – they must dare to be challenged, they must be decisive in making organizational improvements, and their approach must be adaptable. They also must connect with Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas’ constituents to determine how the organization will adjust to support our interests and needs.
We need people who understand the objectives of Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas and will support the organization. Ideal nominees should be devoted to the mission and can commit time to the organization’s needs. Officer candidates may be nominated by other Board members or may be self-nominated.
This year Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas may elect:
•Treasurer
•Vice president
• (4) Directors
Are you ready for an exciting experience? Consider nominating yourself for one of the positions listed. Do you know someone who can bring a positive difference to Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas? Ask them if they would volunteer their time for one of the positions, and if they agree, send us their name and contact information.
More mission and objectives information can be found on our About page.
Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas
2nd Annual “Outdoor Martin Fest”
Saturday, June 15, 2013
9:00 am - 3:00 pm
12345 396th Avenue
Columbia, SD 57433-7100
| 9:00 am | Registration | |
| 9:30 am | Welcome - Perry Vogel | |
| 10:00 am | Getting Started with Purple Martins - Perry Vogel | |
| 10:45 am | Break | |
| 11:00 am | Controlling European Starlings and House Sparrows - Paul Mammenga | |
| 11:45 am | Lunch Break | |
| 1:00 pm | Purple Martin Question and Answer - Perry Vogel and Paul Mammenga | |
| 1:45 pm | Break | |
| 2:00 pm | Tracking Purple Martins from South Dakota with Geolocator Devices - Paul Mammenga | |
| 2:45 pm | Door Prizes | |
| 3:00 pm | Closing | |
Perry Vogel, dubbed as the “Purple Martin Man of Grand Forks” by the Grand Forks Herald, knows Purple Martins. His Purple Martin houses in Grand Forks have fledged more than 600 birds in the past decade. His work was recently featured in a North Dakota wide article written by Doug Leier, a biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
Paul Mammenga is an accomplished waterfowl biologist with South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks. Mammenga bands Purple Martins for a natal dispersal study that helps scientists learn where the birds disperse from their home colony. He is also involved with research using specialized geolocator tracking devices.
For complete driving directions from your general place of departure, visit our Outdoor Martin Festpage.
RSVP: pmad@midco.net
http://purplemartinassociationdakotas.weebly.com/
Research
range map courtesy of Purple Martin Conservation Association and York University, © 2013
In the first three issues of Purple Martin Voice, we saw and learned about detailed spring and fall migration routes from Purple Martins tagged from a Sioux Falls, South Dakota (southeast area) breeding colony. The average spring migration of these Purple Martins back to this breeding colony was 4,783 miles taking an average of 19 days, while the average fall migration to the wintering area of the Amazon River region of Brazil was 4,509 miles taking 34 days. They spent time at different wintering roosts in this region of Brazil. Total average annual migration covered by these Purple Martins from this Sioux Falls colony site was 9,292 miles. We will now learn about one of six Purple Martins deployed with geolocators and retrieved from a Columbia, South Dakota breeding colony. This colony is located in northeastern South Dakota which is 200 miles north of the Sioux Falls colony site.
The “first-ever” map detailing migration pathway and migration timing on a Purple Martin from South Dakota was from an after second year female (ASY-F) banded in 2011 with band number 2331-84518. After being deployed with a geolocator at this Columbia colony, she began the fall migration on August 21 reaching the Louisiana gulf coast in only three days. This ASY-F then took a trip across the Gulf of Mexico reaching the Yucatan peninsula in only two days. She made a rapid initial migration followed by a two week rest in eastern Yucatan before continuing through Central America reaching the first wintering roost on September 28. She spent time in four different wintering sites with the final roost being in a location of the Amazon River region of Brazil that has been used heavily by other documented Purple Martin populations. Her fall migration took 39 days traveling 4,548 miles averaging 117 miles per day. She began her spring migration back to this Columbia colony on April 7, 2012. Her spring migration took 21 days which pretty much followed the same pathway taken during the fall migration including the trip across the Gulf of Mexico again, reaching back to the colony on April 27. This ASY-F traveled 4,290 miles averaging 204 miles per day during this spring migration. The total annual migration distance traveled for this ASY-F was 8,838 miles.
Purple Martins are on their spring migrations back to their breeding colonies in the Dakotas. There have been seven scout reports in South Dakota with the first report in Oaks, North Dakota on April 3, 2013(1) . The weather has not been the best for the returning martins so far to find plentiful flying insects. Hopefully, the weather will be much warmer for the major migration that is only days away now. Make sure your housing is up and ready. The Purple Martins will be in your backyards soon, if not already.
Literature Cited
1. http://purplemartin.org/scoutreport/
Calendar
*** Rescheduled *** April 14, 2013 3 pm - 4 pm Raising the Purple Martin Housing System
April 20, 2013 11 am - 12 pm 21st Annual Thief River Falls Times Home, Sport and Craft Show - Homes for Purple Martins
April 27, 2013 10:30 am - 11:15 am 2013 Gardening Saturday - How to Attract the Birds You Want to See in Your Yard
April 27, 2013 1:45 pm - 3 pm 2013 Gardening Saturday - Getting Started Bird Watching
*** Rescheduled *** June 8, 2013 11 am - 11:45 am Getting Started with Purple Martins
June 15, 2013 9 am - 3 pm Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas 2nd annual Outdoor Martin Fest
For more information on events, visit our enhanced Calendar page, now with a cleaner look and no advertising.
Announcement
Purple Martins arrive in North Dakota!
Outdoor Martin Fest Sponsorship Received:
•ERVA / Nature House
If you, someone you know, or your company wants to sponsor the Outdoor Martin Fest, visit our Sponsor page.