While it will never be mistaken for San Juan, Capistrano, Richard Zenner of Kingsley looks forward each spring to the return of his swallows and will miss them -- as he does every year -- when they depart in a few weeks for their annual winter migration south.
Zenner loves to watch and listen to the purple martins, largest of the swallow breed, each summer as they come to nest and raise their young in his three martin houses that he has tended for close to 30 years. He remembered them from his youth growing up on the same farm, and decided years ago to bring them back.
"I love to watch and listen to the martins, especially in the early evening before dusk," he said as we stood watching the martins swooping and chirping at around 7 p.m. on his farm near Kingsley last week. "They are really active feeding their young, and later in the summer taking them on training flights.
"They are bringing insects back to feed the young ones that aren't quite ready to fly, and taking those that are ready on training flights," he added as we watched some carrying pretty good size insects in their beaks. "They will be heading south about the middle of next month (August), and the young ones need to be ready for some long distance flying. They winter in South America.
"I will really miss them. You get used to this constant activity and chatter. I find them fascinating. One morning around the 10th of August I will wake up and it will be total silence. One night they are here, and the next morning gone, and, like clockwork, they will return around April 10th next spring."
In between, Zenner will take the purple martin houses he built down from their lofty perch on solid steel poles and give them a good cleaning.
"You have to remove the old nest from each of the little compartments and thoroughly clean them before the martins return next spring," explained the birding enthusiast. "They won't nest in a dirty house, and I make sure the roof and sides are in decent shape as well. It requires a little work if you're going to be successful in attracting them and to keep them coming back."
Over one million people in the United States put up martin houses in hope of attracting them and many are not successful. West of the Rocky Mountains they mostly nest in abandoned woodpecker nests, but east of the mountains purple martins are totally dependent on human made bird houses for nesting. They have no natural nests.
Martins are very fussy about their housing, according to Zenner.
"Not only are they fussy about it being cleaned out, the compartments within the bird house need to be just the right size. You also have to protect the houses from starlings and sparrows from the time you put them up in the spring until the martins return and take over. The other birds will drive them out if you leave the bird houses up and don't protect them. Once they are back and nesting it's fine."
Martins will do a lot to keep insects down around your home, but mosquitoes are not a big part of their diet. Some selling birdhouses mistakenly claim that putting up martin houses will help control your local mosquito population. Not true. They take all of their insects on the wing and feed during the day when mosquitoes are normally nestled down in wet, damp areas coming out to fly at night.
Zenner lives in a great area for birding. While we watched the martins we saw a sandhill crane with a young one in tow out feeding on grasshoppers or whatever else it could find in a field. He said they nested along a nearby boggy area, and, as if on cue, we suddenly heard a loud raucous honking from across the road as other cranes were checking on the whereabouts of the other two, which honked back.
Zenner and his son also have permission from the DNR to take road kill out along their fields for eagles where he has had as many as seven, eight and 10 eagles feeding at one time. He swears he even had a golden eagle feeding there once.
"I know they are rare in the east, found mostly out west, but it was different than our white headed eagles. It definitely had a gold head," said avid birder Bob Carstens, who happened to be out there when it was spotted.
"It was quite exciting to see. Richard Zenner lives in a great area for watching wildlife and birds, and he works hard to keep it that way."
I know what he means. I spent quite a while that evening enjoying listening to and watching the purple martins and sandhill cranes. At one point, a doe with a fawn in tow also came out into the field as they leisurely munched their way across it. It was just a typical evening on the Zenner farm, but a real treat for me.
For more information about purple martins, whose numbers they say are currently showing a slight increase, you can log onto purplemartin.org. It's just about everything you could know about this fascinating little bird, and how to attract them if you fall under their spell. Just remember it does require a little bit of work and dedication.
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