Gone to the Birds

by Jackie Perrone

Lunch Island is the site of the first official, and possibly largest, sanctuary in North America designated solely for roosting purple martins. Every year, flocks estimated at somewhere between 500,000 and 750,000 swoop in on their summer home. Their aerial display has spawned a tourism target, as boat owners throughout the South Carolina Midlands time their lake cruises to the sunrise and sunset roostings. To witness the annual vacation of these birds at their Lake Murray playground is to eyeball as large a confluence of flying creatures as can ever be seen anywhere. Mid-July to early August is the time to plan your routing. Early birds, so to speak, need be on the lake by 5 a.m. to see the purple martins rise with the sun. More popular are the sunset cruises by chartered tour boats or private vessels. A state-of-the-art weather surveillance radar called NEXRAD, or National Weather Service Radar, provides ornithologists incredible capabilities for studying bird movements. Its Doppler feature details data on the direction and speed of birds in flight. NEXRAD enabled scientists to establish a daily schedule for roosting purple martins: a near-dawn exodus for aerial foraging and an evening return. The instruments document the birds taking off in a distinctive “annulus” (360 degree) or “ring” signature. Purple martins don’t come home the way they left, in the “ring” pattern. Rather, you’ll see small, sporadic flocks flying at treetop heights. They come in “under the radar,” thus sidetracking any distinctive signature.Palmer “Satch” Krantz, Director of Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden in Columbia, is one who recognized the importance of the Purple Martin roosting activity a dozen years ago. He enlisted Bruce Kenyon, then-president of South Carolina Electric and Gas Company, which holds title to Lunch Island. Through their efforts and those of other interested parties, the eastern end of Lunch Island was designated in 1995 as a Purple Martin Sanctuary by a joint agreement signed by SCE&G, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and the Columbia Audubon Society. Such activities as fireworks and picnics which used to take place there are no longer allowed.Amateur birding clubs and other interested observers play a valuable role inverifying bird movements. Once their presence is confirmed, the ornithologists can monitor the site in their NEXRAD continental network. Birdwatchers who become “landlords” serve an auxiliary purpose away from the Lake Murray roost. Mary Pringle of the Isle of Palms, S.C., says, “We became ‘landlords’ for purple martins in the late 1980s by putting up housing for them and protecting them from predators. We started out using cumbersome wooden birdhouses and tried many designs, learning as we went that we needed to be able to lower them with a pulley and winch system that allowed for frequent nest checks. Now we use large plastic ‘supergourds,’ which the martins love.”

Lunch Landlord William “Rocky” Goforth of Smyrna, S.C., put his inventiveness to use in Cherokee County. “I’m an extremist,” he admits. “Right now I have 300 to 400 gourds up for the martins. I do it for the pleasure; don’t ever try to talk someone into starting this unless they have real enthusiasm. It’s a lot of time and effort,” he says. “I came up with some plans which have been accepted. I put a roof over the entrance hole to keep rainwater out, and I fixed up a vent tube in the top which lets the hot air out. Controlling starlings is one of the jobs that goes along with being a landlord. I use a trap (you can buy plans for the trap), and since I live in the country, I can shoot them.”In late February, a landlord is likely to see his first tenants arriving. In August, the birds will be checking out of their favored summer home such as the roost at Lake Murray and heading to South America. For excitement and sheer exhilaration, the purple martin show is hard to beat and, according to Satch Krantz who has seen over a million flamingos on Lake Nukuru in Kenya, “the Lake Murray roost is indeed a wildlife spectacle worthy of national attention.” “Better than Christmas,” according to another spectator. For more information about becoming a landlord to Purple Martins, contact The Purple Martin Conservation Association: 301 Peninsula Dr., Suite 6, Erie, PA 16505. 814-833-7656; or www.purplemartin.org

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