Purple Martin. Internet photo.

By Ted Bell, naturalist and OG historian.

Birds are very important to our way of life. Besides waking us up in the morning with their sweet sounds at daybreak, they do consume flying insects and ground bugs. Some 7 years ago Chuck Hendron decided he would like some purple martins nesting around Ocean Grove  so he purchased a 6 room bird house that was designed to house purple martins and installed it on a pole near the Ocean Grove shuffleboard court.

purple martin house. Internet photo.

Chuck was told by the local bird expert that he might have to wait 7 to 8 years before any martins might use the nest–on Staten Island one person waited 10 years before the martins arrived and nested.  In the mean time Chuck learned how to evict sparrows from the vacant apartment units.

Two years ago some Martins did stop by on their way south to where they live in South America–again the martins only stopped for a few weeks–now they have taken up residents for the summer.

If you see these graceful black birds swooping on the beach catching  pesky insects as you sun tan you can thank Chuck  for his efforts and the birds too.

At the North End we have barn swallows doing the same service except these birds can trace their nesting activities for 65 years–they nest under the bridge on Wesley Lake—we hope that the boats don’t disturb their nesting activities.

Since this is a bird article -we have seen a gold finch and a cat bird in  Ocean Grove–most unusual.

JOE COCKER

EDITOR’S NOTE:   Thanks Ted.

Catbird

The catbird makes a variety of noises, but sometimes it sounds like “meow.”  It is gray with a black skullcap. We have one who visits us regularly.  He likes to eat suet as do the woodpeckers and nuthatches in our OG  backyard.

–PG