It's all about the martins

    GRUNDY CENTER — During a quick drive around Grundy County, you are likely to see more birds than you can count. You’ll see sparrows, black birds, cardinals, robins, and possibly even a bald eagle or two if you are lucky. It is a lesser-known, though still abundant bird that has drawn the interest of a Grundy Center man.
    “(Martins) have a unique chatter, song ... they’re just awesome,” Rod Onnen said.
    “They like people,” Onnen’s friend and birding mentor Jim Getting said. “If we have a bunch of birds here, we can walk under (the houses) and talk to them. That’s what we encourage people to do.”
    It was Getting who drew Onnen into putting up houses for the birds.
    “I’ve been interested in them for years and years, and I got Rod going before I even had martins myself,” Getting said. “I’ve been trying to get martins for about 18 years.”
    Getting said the key to attracting purple martins is having the right location — one away from trees that predators can hide in, and one near overhead wires.
 

For more of this story, see the May 15 Grundy Register.