How many humans does it take to rescue a baby purple martin? In our case, six. My neighbor George spotted a small bird floundering and wildly splashing its wings in the river outside their houseboat. He and Monica got their rubber raft and a net from their aquarium and went out to scoop up the bird. They got it on their deck and it turned out their was another bird that had been on a log float that came up and hid under a planter. We later called this the “companion” bird because it didn’t seem big enough to be the parent but kept close.
They called over to me and I went to see the bird and recognized it as a baby purple martin, surely one of “mine.” It was late evening and George wrapped it in a towel and brought it over to my place. He set it on my glass table thinking that maybe the parents in the gourds above would come and help it. I watched as the sopping-wet martin tried to flap its wings but couldn’t fly. It moved around in a circle, went backwards and fell off the table onto a chair and then fluttered its way underneath the wooden glider. I sat a bit aways and got out my binoculars to watch what would happen. That’s when I noticed the companion bird was there under the glider and the two were snuggling.
It was almost dark and we’d all agreed it would not be a good idea to leave the bird on the deck overnight lest some predator got it. What to do? I phoned Carol and Don on a neighboring moorage who have gourds and told a story about a martin that fell from the gourd and they took it to the Audubon Care Center. Don said the preferable choice would be to get the bird back into the nest, otherwise, put it in a shoebox overnight, open it in the morning and see if it flies off, it not take it to Audubon.
By now it was dark. I went back over to George’s and he thought we shouldn’t be trying in the dark to get the bird back into the gourd. I came back and got both birds and put them in a box with a towel below and a lot of holes punched in the tops and sides, and set it in the guest room.
I woke early, 6:30 a.m., and worried about the birds and hoping they were still alive. They were. Next I was concerned that I would open the box and the bird would fly off and land in the water again. Then what I do? So I prepared first. I pumped up a rubber raft, got a paddle, put on kayaking clothes and a life jacket and tied the raft up to the deck. I was ready for another water rescue.
I opened the box and one bird flew out, while the other clearly still couldn’t fly. It was crawling up my arm, its feet clinging to the fleece of my top. I put it back in the box and closed the lid.
Next I sent out an email to all the people I knew on the island who have purple martin gourds and said I needed to leave for a meeting at 8:15 and if someone could help me put the baby back in the nest before I left that would be great, otherwise I would take it to Audubon. Then I went up to get the newspaper. On the way, I saw my neighbor Jim, who has gourds. I asked him if he could help but he was concerned that since I have four gourds, we might put it in the wrong gourd where it might be unwelcome and who knows how the other birds might react. He thought it best to take the bird to Audubon.
Just as I was ready to leave the house, the doorbell rang. It was Rita, who has 16 gourds. She rolled up her sleeves and said, “Where’s the bird?” She single-handedly eased down the heavy gourd setup and opened the screw-off caps on the gourds one by one. The first three were empty. The last one had babies in it. “That’s where this one came from” she said, and put the bird back. She said they get probably one bird a year falling out of a nest. She said they either lean out too far or are just too curious.
Later I would go out and look up at this bird sticking its head far out of the gourd and admonish it, “Don’t you come out again until you know how to fly.”