On May 4th I received a phone call out of
the blue from someone who at the time was a complete
stranger. She told me her name was Mary Jo and that
she lived in a Senior Apartment community at 4720 N Michigan
Road in Indianapolis. She went on to explain that
growing up her father and grandfather had martins and how
she used to enjoy watching them. She thought her
fellow residents would also enjoy them and was wondering if
I would be able to assist her in finding and erecting a
purple martin house.
I told her that I wasn't sure what I could do but that I'd
try to do everything possible to find her a martin house at
a reasonable or no cost. A week or so later I put out
an "all points bulletin" to members of our CIPMA purple martin
club via email. I received several offers of
assistance in the form of an aluminum house and gourds and
thought possibly with some funds our club had in reserve we
could make Mary Jo's dream come true.
It was then I received an almost unbelievable email from
Terry Suchma of the Purple Martin Society, NA near Chicago,
IL. She very generously offered to provide, at
no charge, a MSS-12 Aluminum Martin House complete
with pole and pulley system. This is a perfect house
for Mary Jo and the other residents as it is lightweight,
virtually maintenance free, and raises and lowers easily and
safely. Terry said she would order it and have it sent
to my residence in Bloomington. Sure enough, about a
week later the house and pole arrived.
On Saturday, June 4th, I made arrangements to meet Mary Jo
at her Apartment Complex and install the new martin house. We
picked probably the hottest day of the year to that point
but all went smoothly. We chose a spot on the NW side
of the building near the patio area and where there are
a number of apartment windows so the house will have maximum
visibility by the residents. We picked a spot between
two columnar type evergreens which may eventually become too
tall but the house can be easily moved if needed because of
the ground socket. At the same time I had an opportunity to
meet some of the other residents as well, all of whom
couldn't have been nicer or friendlier. All in all a
very enjoyable day.
Once again all I can say is Thank You! Thank you! Thank you!
to Terry Suchma for her generous and magnanimous gift. Unsolicited
plug: Please visit Terry's Purple Martin Society,
NA website at
http://purplemartins.com. She has a purple martin
forum
(as well as bluebird and hummingbird forums) and a wealth of
information available there. If you're in the market
for purple martin merchandise I would highly encourage you
to patronize her as well
http://purplemartins.com/sales/sales.htm .
This is actually the 2nd martin house our club has
installed. Dave and Kathy Williams of Wild Birds
Unlimited also very generously donated an aluminum house for
the Zionsville Park a few years ago. They have stores
on North Michigan Road just north of the I-465 and Michigan
interchange and one in Carmel and I'm sure they would
appreciate you patronage as well. I found out in
discussions with Mary Jo that Dave and Kathy are the ones
who gave her my name when she was in their store.
Below are a few pictures of Mary Jo and her new martin
house. It was a pleasure to meet and get to know this
delightful lady. It was pretty late in the season so
the chances of attracting any martins this year were slim.
Hopefully next year they will have success however. We
wish them luck and I'll be sure to check in with them
occasionally. |
