Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Long Lake Purple Martin Webcam

Did you know that Long Lake is home to the largest purple martin colony in Minnesota?  It was created and is maintained by Don Wilkins who started it in 1987 when he moved here.  There were 9 pairs that first year.  It didn’t take long to get to 90 pairs, but then disaster struck in 1992 with a week of bad weather at the worst time for the birds.  The colony was essentially wiped out and Don started over. Most of the upper Midwest states suffered the same disaster.  This year there are 120 nesting pairs which is normal as there are usually over 100 nesting pairs.  Carol Henderson (head of MN DNR non-game division) shows the colony in his book “Woodworking for Wildlife” and now, thanks to Don, you can view his martin colony, because he is sharing it via webcam with the public.  The link is in our newly placed "Webcams" box on the right.

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