S.B. Purple Martin Survey
Date Posted: Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020SLAUGHTER BEACH PURPLE MARTIN SURVEY
The relationship between humans and purple martins began hundreds of years ago when Native Americans would put out gourds to attract purple martins so they would eat insect pests that could ruin their crops. In the eastern United States, purple martins now nest exclusively in man-made structures – without them, we would not have purple martins or the insect control benefits they provide!
Many of us have purple martin houses on our properties. Slaughter Beach would like to document the Town’s contribution to purple martin conservation. If you have purple martin houses, we are asking you to take a few minutes to observe the number of birds using your the apartments in your bird houses sometime before July 31 and complete a short survey. The information from the survey will be compiled and a report will be made available to the community and conservation agencies. You can fill the survey out on-line using the ‘Survey Monkey’ link here Purple Martin Survey 2020 (or by copying the following link into your browser https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G5XQ6J2 ). The same survey will also be sent via email which can be filled out and submitted by email to sbpmsurvey@gmail.com or mailed to Purple Martin Survey, 427 Bay Ave, Slaughter Beach DE 19963. Please use only one method of response and thank you for your interest in our community.
If you don’t have a purple martin house and would like to put one up this spring, talk to a neighbor! Slaughter Beach is a great source of information on types of houses, where to get them and where to place them on your property.
