EasternPurpleMartin_KeepitGoing_Fendley_Matt_HoustonTX_28July2022_Reel4122.mp3

Matt Fendley [00:00:00] These talks that I give, if I can just get one person, you know, to become interested enough in martins to, to maybe erect some housing and, and attract some martins, and to get into them, then I feel like it is a success.

Matt Fendley [00:00:14] And that's one of the big reasons that I do it, is to try to plant that seed, to try to get people interested in these birds, interested enough to erect some housing, and to try to attract them. Because I'm convinced that if they do, and they successfully attract some, they'll, they'll be hooked. I'm convinced of that. I have that much faith in the martins with just how enjoyable they are to watch and to host and everything else that, that if folks can get to the point where they actually attract that first nesting pair, they'll be hooked.

Matt Fendley [00:00:52] And you know, the main reason for that, the decline in, in housing that's being offered is being provided to the martins over the past 50 years, the stark decline. And so I really feel like it's something that people need to understand. It's one of the things I really hit on multiple times during these presentations is how important it is for our generations right now, but for our children, our children's children, the following generations, to make sure that there is available housing out there for these birds.

Matt Fendley [00:01:23] I was watching a video just the other day, a YouTube video, very sad, but it's happening all too often, where there was a once-huge colony up in, I think it was in Illinois, and the couple, an elderly couple, the gentleman in particular was the one, that was the one, the big martin fan, if you will. He was the one that grew that colony and maintained it and everything else.

Matt Fendley [00:01:46] And it had like, it had around 100 pairs of martins - a massive martin colony.

Matt Fendley [00:01:51] Well, he passed away.

Matt Fendley [00:01:54] And what happens all too often is that the colony ends up dying along with the landlord. His spouse did not continue with it. And so you see that all too often that someone, whoever, the martin landlord that builds up the colony, and takes care of the colony, manages the colony. There's no one there to to pass the baton to.

Matt Fendley [00:02:14] And so you see these once-bustling colonies just wither away and die. And there's no one there to to pick it up.

Matt Fendley [00:02:22] There's no one there to, even if it's a totally different site or location. There's no offset. There's no colony. We lost a colony here. But there's a new, there's a new colony being formed over here that will help offset that. You're just seeing colonies disappearing. You're seeing a lot of colonies disappearing, a lot of housing disappearing, but not a lot of colonies or housing up here...

Matt Fendley [00:02:46] So that's one of the big reasons why I do it, is, again, just to try to get more and more people interested in it, to the point where they put up martin housing, attract martins, and really get interested in it, and to help further the species, you know, to help keep, keep it going.