Connecticut’s Purple Martins on the BBC

A Purple Martin feeding a nestling. Photo by Melissa Groo.

Purple Martins are hatching and fledging at colonies across Connecticut this month. Recently a reporter from the BBC visited us to interview Milan Bull, Connecticut Audubon Society’s senior director of science and conservation, about the long-term population decline of Purple Martins and how they have become almost completely dependent on humans for nest sites.

It’s a terrific interview, made more interesting by the very different broadcasting style of the BBC. The segment with Milan Bull is near the start.

Click here to listen.

Purple Martins are among a group of birds known as aerial insectivores – birds that eat only bugs they catch on the wing. They were the subject of our Connecticut State of the Birds 2013 report, “The Seventh Habitat and the Decline of Our Aerial Insectivores,” which examined the issue in depth.

Here’s a link to our news release about the report, where you can find a link to the report itself. It’s worth reiterating the report’s recommendations and actions:

Recommendations and Actions
Connecticut State of the Birds 2013 calls on government agencies such as the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, academic institutions and conservation organizations to collaborate on a comprehensive assessment of the status of aerial insectivores.

Because the population decline is most severe throughout northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada, the assessment should be undertaken on an interstate and international basis.

In addition, Connecticut Audubon Society is calling for an increase in aeroecology research, and greater sharing of research and data through workshops and conferences to understand the research being conducted, by whom, and what still needs to be accomplished.

In the shorter term, Connecticut Audubon Society will work with other conservation organizations to help pass pesticide reduction bills in Hartford. In particular, CAS will support a bill to ban the use of pesticides in municipal parks.

Connecticut Audubon Society will also work with four to six local organizations to create new Purple Martin colonies, a proven method of increasing the number of nest sites. CAS maintains a successful martin colony at its Milford Point Coastal Center and is attempting to establish another at its Stratford Point coastal restoration site.