Ed Guy: A Bird's Eye View

BY CAROLYN DRINKARD

For over 30 years, Ed Guy has enjoyed Purple Martins. His passion for these birds began with a few gourds that his brother gave him. Ed put up the poles and houses, and when the birds arrived, he was hooked!

“I can sit and watch them for hours,” he laughed. “I enjoy hearing them chatter and watching them dart and fly around.“

Ed and Betty Guy are dedicated birdwatchers. Like thousands of others who have made bird watching one of the fastest growing outdoor activities in the country, Ed and Betty have a bird’s eye view from their back porch in Grove Hill, Alabama, where feathered friends flock to backyard feeders year-round.

The Guys enjoy watching all birds, but it is the yearly arrival of Purple Martins that brings them the greatest joy. After spending the winter in Brazil or other areas near the rain forest, Purple Martins return with the first hint of spring. They send out older male “scouts” to check the places where they may have nested before or the area where they were born. If all is well, older birds come first, followed later by the younger birds.

“My Purple Martins have been late this year,” Ed said. “In late February, I only had eight to show up. Last year, I bet I had 100 by this time.”

Since the birds had to travel from South America, Ed and Betty worried that they had gotten lost or faced bad weather. When the first birds finally arrived, the Guys were delighted and relieved.

Ed had actually started to prepare for their arrival in early January. He repainted his gourds white to reflect the sunlight and keep the babies inside cooler. He also cleaned the cavities, using a unique method that he devised himself. First, he bored a hole on the side of the gourd, placed the top part of a plastic pickle jar into the hole and then screwed a lid on the jar. This allowed him to reach inside easily to clean the nest. He even put straw back into the gourd to give the nest builders a head start.

Ed’s Purple Martin houses are a sight to see! He has 56 cavities, so he can accommodate over 112 birds. By June, he often has twice this many birds, as younger ones come into nest. With their gleeful sounds and their acrobatic antics, these delightful birds never disappoint.

Ed has intricately “engineered” the Purple Martin homes to help these beloved birds survive. He fashioned canopies above the entrances to keep rain from blowing inside and inserted elbow PVC pipe at the top of the gourd, to improve circulation throughout the cavity.

Ed protects his birds from predators, like snakes, raccoons, hawks, owls, squirrels and feral cats, by placing two long wires in front of each opening, so that owls cannot light or get inside. He has also installed snake guards around the gourd poles. If a predator ever disturbs the nest, the birds will leave and not return.

In South Alabama, bird lovers place Purple Martin gourds near their homes to control insects. During the daily foraging, the birds catch many insects in mid air. Both males and females will then feed their young chicks, sometimes up to 60 times a day. The birds return late in the evening, all coming in at one time. They are quite vocal as they soar and dart before entering the nests, especially if young ones are inside. These aresights and sounds that truly warm Ed’s heart!

Ed spends a great deal of time with the birds, so they are very comfortable with him being there. Like a doting parent, he is not satisfied until all of his flock has returned each day.

“I stay till dark and count them till they all come in,” he said. “My gourds are numbered, so I can check off which birds have come back.”

Purple Martins may be the stuff of legends and folktales, but they are also surrounded by myths. One is that Purple Martins eat all the mosquitoes around a place. Ed believes this myth is a just a marketing tool, used to sell more birdhouses.

“Mosquitoes are low flying insects, “ he explained. “These birds fly high. They don’t feed on the ground. They do eat some mosquitoes, but they eat more flying insects, like bees, wasps, grasshoppers and moths. I’ve even seen them go after big mosquito hawks in the air.”

As a child, Ed Guy didn’t have much interest in bird watching. After graduating from Coffeeville High School in 1960, he was a member of the active military for 12 years. In 1975, he moved to Arizona, where he drove a truck for a grocery business for many years. His two children still live in Arizona. He then returned to Grove Hill and worked for the Coca Cola Company for 20 years, before retiring in 2006.

Since retiring, Ed Guy has discovered a hobby that he is passionate about. From reading about Purple Martins to sharing things he has learned from hosting them, Ed Guy has earned the title of “The Purple Martin Man of Grove Hill.”

“I love ‘em,” Ed laughed. “I came home, and I have been watching the birds ever since!”