For Earth Week, a team of volunteeers and staff help make sure Purples Martins thrive
Connecticut Audubon staff, board members, and volunteers help to conduct a routine nest check of the Purple Martin Gourds. Photo by Frank Mantlik.
April 25, 2025—Our seventh and final Earth Week story is about one of our own projects, submitted by Beverly Propen, peerless volunteer at the Milford Point Coastal Center. In addition to being a member of the Coastal Center’s regional board, and a nest steward for the Osprey Nation Project, Bev is also part of the team of volunteers and staff that make sure the Coastal Center’s Purple Martin colony thrives.
It’s an effective, cohesive team. Milan Bull, who is Connecticut Audubon’s senior director of science and conservation, and former Board member Michael Aurelia led it for years. Now Frank Mantlik, who has been a Connecticut Audubon member for five decades, leads the crew. Volunteers include Lori Romick, George Amato, and Tom Murray, among others, in addition to Bev. Staffers Stefan Martin and Johann Heupel always get in on the action too.
It’s a great, important project, and each year up to four dozen pairs of Purple Martins nest and raise scores of babies.
You can read the six previous stories in the series here.
Coastal Center Purple Martin Colony
Beverly Propen
Purple Martins are the largest members of the swallow family, and return from their winter migration in mid-April. They almost exclusively hunt flying insects, catching moths, dragonflies, and other insects midair, acting as natural pest control. Purple Martins have nested in hollow gourds since Native Americans started hanging them thousands of years ago, and in the eastern United States, they rely on these manmade structures to continue their colonies.
At Connecticut Audubon’s Milford Point Coastal Center, there is a loyal group of birders (volunteers, board members) who are steadfast in their passion to protect our returning Purple Martins.
Every year these dedicated individuals clean out the gourds and hang them up so that these long distance migrants have a home to come to on the beautiful Wheeler Salt marsh. This marsh is ripe with insects, which are the main-stay of the diet these insectivores consume.
During the time that these Purple Martins live here, this dedicated team monitors the gourds for parasites, invasive birds & other pests, cleans the gourds, counts the eggs, and then monitors the hatchlings/nestlings. They make reports to our members and those who have “adopted” gourds, letting them know how our migrants are progressing.
Then after the Purple Martins depart on their journey back south, this devoted team will again take down the gourds, clean them out and save the gourds for next season.
