Purple Martins arrive late to Kansas home, leave early

CLINTON, Kan. -- About this time every year, hundreds of people stop by Beth and Franklin Bidinger's house in tiny Clinton, 18 miles southwest of Lawrence.

"Everybody's welcome," said 77-year-old Franklin Bidinger. "We're usually here, but if we're not, they can go out back and sit in the chairs and watch all they want."

Folks come to watch the acrobatic comings and goings of the Bidingers' ample population of purple martins as they zip in, out and about their hollowed-out gourd homes.

"Evening is the best time to come," Bidinger said. "That's when they come in to roost."

Last year, the couple played host to 155 pairs of nesting birds.

"I don't know exactly how many we got this year -- I haven't got around to counting them," Bidinger said. "I came down with pneumonia, so I'm kind of behind on everything. But I'm guessing it's about the same as last year."

The Bidingers have welcomed purple martins for the past 15 years.

"We waited eight years to get our first pair -- and that was in 1988," Bidinger said.

A year later, they had six pairs; by 1990 there were 26 pairs. Common in much of North America, purple martins spend the winter months in Brazil. Bidinger said he noticed this year's numbers were down early on.

"They come in waves, and for some reason a lot of birds didn't show up like they usually do," he said.

He has also noticed that for the past three years, the birds have been leaving a month early.

"They used to always leave in the middle of August or early September. Now, they're gone by July 15," he said. "Something's going on. I can't explain it."

Louise Chambers can. She's an education coordinator at the Purple Martin Conservation Association, based at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

"The Bidingers' colony has been going a long time, so he's got older birds," she said. "And older birds tend to be the first to arrive -- they breed, they raise their babies and then they're ready to leave."

Early arrivals lead to early departures, Chambers said.