nature article

nn4701 Earl Plato

At the family farm in Sherkston we had two active Purple martin houses. We had over twenty residents in both homes. In all the years we have been involved with these birds I never had a young one rest on my hand. Marjorie McBurney of Fort Erie did recently. She called and shared this incident with me. I made sketchy notes and have missed some of her points. She was visiting at a cottage at Lowbanks on the Lake Erie shore. Under the cottage deck the owner detected a little baby Purple martin. It hopped onto his hand and my notes say he would whistle and it would talk back. Talk back? That’s what I wrote.
Eventually the little guy left his palm post after leaving a little deposit. He headed for the lake and entered it. The parents now appeared and were greatly concerned that their little charge might drown or be grabbed by a fish. Marjorie says they squawked and carried on until he came back to the cottage and flew under a chair. Here, if I am right, he nestled in Marjorie’s hand. She says that the little guy stayed around about two hours during which time the parents did not dive bomb or carry on. Marjorie was the recipient of two calling cards from fledgling martin. Eventually the cottage owner took the little guy over to the base of the martin house. That’s the right thing to do. Place bird fledglings back in their nests or as close as you can in the case of Purple martins.
If you want the full story you might call Marjorie.
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I am not your typical walker in the woods. I always wear long sleeved shirts and long pants. Why? I dislike mosquitos and black flies. I have suffered painful infections over the years from their bites. I carry a small bottle of Muskol with me.
Friends of mine much younger wear shorts and short sleeves and seem oblivious to insect bites. Not me.
West Nile virus is now in Ontario. The Crow family including Blue jays have died from the virus. Mosquitoes extract their blood and then try to take a shot at us. I went on the internet about the subject and found only a few birds in Windsor and outside Toronto have succumbed. Wait! Elaine and I entered the Ojibway Prairie Park of Windsor in early August. They found the dead crow nearby. It was infected with West Nile virus. Results from the research lab in Winnipeg confirmed the virus.
Panic? No. I will continue to dress as I have. I head for Marcy butterfly fields this week. If I find any dead crows or blue jays or other birds I will report them but nature walks go on.