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Bird banding at the Aden home


		July 14, 2010

Evelyn and Dale Aden used buckets to transfer the young birds to the table where wildlife biologist Kelly Applegate banded them.	On Saturday afternoon, Kelly Applegate, Wildlife Biologist with the Mille Las band of Ojibwa, visited Heron Lake.

On Saturday afternoon, Kelly Applegate, Wildlife Biologist with the Mille Las band of Ojibwa, visited Heron Lake. A licensed bird bander, Applegate came to put leg bands on some of the purple martins at the Evelyn Aden home and at Lakeview Assisted Living. Applegate also banded several birds at the Dale Aden home near Okabena. Only licensed banders are allowed to put leg bands on birds. “They can be nine to 18 days old,” Applegate said of the birds he could band. “Their legs actually shrink as they grow, stretching out.” If the birds are younger than nine days, their legs are almost too large to put the bands on. Two bands are placed on the birds. On the left leg, a silver band from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is placed. On the right leg is the Minnesota band, which is red in color. Both bands have a unique number. “States use different colors,” Applegate explained, saying that Pennsylvania also has red bands. Because of the distance between the two states, they can use the same color bands. The bands will be used to monitor the movement of the purple martins. Some banding records have shown that the birds return, not only to the same area but to the same house they had been in the year before. As they are recorded in different areas, reports can be provided to show where they are located. Applegate has banded about 900 birds this year, and reports the numbers to the Bird Banding Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. 62 birds were banded in the Heron Lake-Okabena area on Saturday. Purple martins are seen throughout North America, arriving in Florida early in January. They also travel as far north as Edmonton, Canada, with some arriving there about three weeks after arrivals reach southwestern Minnesota. After arriving, the birds find houses and build nests. It is important to keep other birds from intruding on the nests. Dale Aden explained that house sparrows try to take over the houses, and he has to make sure they don’t. Purple martin houses, containing several apartments for the birds, are located on a tall pole with a winch used to raise and lower the house. “An Amish gentleman in Pennsylvania designed these,” Aden said, pointing out each apartment in his current homes is 6 by 6 1/2 by 11 inches. Aden keeps records of the birds, which arrived on April 2 this year. He has been a ‘landlord’ for some of the purple martins in the area for many years. After fledging, beginning to fly, the purple martins will remain in the area for a while. They will then gather in ‘roosts’, large groups of birds. “They’ll catch insects all day and roost all night,” Applegate explained. “There are two large roosts in Minnesota. One is at Big Swan Lake in Todd County, and the other is near Wilmar, on the south side of town in a corn field.” He said the field changes each year, but the general location of the roost is the same. “It’s always a corn field.” After feeding there for about a month, the birds will gather into larger groups and begin working their way south for the winter months. “Eventually, there will be a huge flock in New Orleans,” Aden explained of the birds last gathering stop before heading to South America. The purple martins will migrate about 5000 miles, reaching the south side of Brazil. They will then return next spring, and the leg bands will allow Aden to determine if they return to the same houses. “We had a bird with a Wisconsin band on one year,” he pointed out. “They were here when we bought the place in 1974,” Aden said of how long he has been a ‘landlord’ for the birds at Evelyn’s home in Heron Lake. He has continued to provide for housing for them throughout the years. “We had aluminum houses at first, then we started making wooden ones,” he added. “When it’s warm out, they’re cooler, and when it’s cool out, they are warmer.” He has recorded 103 pair in the Heron Lake-Okabena area this year, having lost a few from last year. “No bugs were out when it got cold in May,” he explained, “so some of the birds got too weak and died.” He monitors their egg laying and the hatching, as well as recording the dates the birds begin to fly. “I summarize my records in the fall and send them to the Purple Martin Conservation Association in Pennsylvania,” Aden said. The Association determines how many purple martin ‘landlords’ there are in the United States. town in a corn field.” He said the field changes each year, but the general location of the roost is the same. “It’s always a corn field.” After feeding there for about a month, the birds will gather into larger groups and begin working their way south for the winter months. “Eventually, there will be a huge flock in New Orleans,” Aden explained of the birds last gathering stop before heading to South America. The purple martins will migrate about 5000 miles, reaching the south side of Brazil. They will then return next spring, and the leg bands will allow Aden to determine if they return to the same houses. “We had a bird with a Wisconsin band on one year,” he pointed out. “They were here when we bought the place in 1974,” Aden said of how long he has been a ‘landlord’ for the birds at Evelyn’s home in Heron Lake. He has continued to provide for housing for them throughout the years. “We had aluminum houses at first, then we started making wooden ones,” he added. “When it’s warm out, they’re cooler, and when it’s cool out, they are warmer.” He has recorded 103 pair in the Heron Lake-Okabena area this year, having lost a few from last year. “No bugs were out when it got cold in May,” he explained, “so some of the birds got too weak and died.” He monitors their egg laying and the hatching, as well as recording the dates the birds begin to fly. “I summarize my records in the fall and send them to the Purple Martin Conservation Association in Pennsylvania,” Aden said. The Association determines how many purple martin ‘landlords’ there are in the United States.