Purple Martins Get New Lakefront Housing

Scouts, some from as far away as Brazil, come to Chicago Wilderness every spring looking for lodging. This year, they found fourteen new state-of-the-art condos with breathtaking views. The Chicago Park District (CPD), in yet another project to serve wildlife, installed these houses for purple martins, one of our earliest swallow migrants. Purple martins are declining in the northern part of their range for lack of natural nesting cavities: old trees, rock crevices and excavated woodpecker holes.

The CPD houses were installed in March at South Shore Cultural Center, Lincoln, Gompers, Jackson and Riis Parks. Historic photos of Chicago's North Side show hundreds of purple martins perched on guy wires along the lakefront. Chicago Wilderness still attracts tens of thousands of purple martins.

For more information on purple martins and their housing requirements, visit www.purplemartin.org.