Animal lover organizing first Purple Martin Festival at Roanoke Island

By MARY ELLEN RIDDLE , The Virginian-Pilot
© August 5, 2005

Things are hopping at Rabbit Run Lane in Columbia.

Resident animal lover Alisa Esposito, who lives down the rural road, is up to her elbows in plans for the first Purple Martin Festival to be held Saturday.

She's planned for 10 exhibitors to set up displays under tents at Roanoke Island Festival Park to share information on purple martins and other wildlife-related programs, including the North Carolina Birding Trail, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

Art projects for children are on the agenda, as well as an exhibition of painted gourd birdhouses by regional youngsters.

Six live birds of prey – all natural enemies of the purple martin – will make an appearance, followed by a talk on predation.

“We hope people who have martins come and see how beautiful these birds of prey are, too,” Esposito said.

The day's event is free. Raffles will be held every half-hour for finch feeders, purple martin houses and more, with proceeds going toward the purple martin roost public awareness campaign.

The major goal of the festival is to raise awareness about the purple martin pre-migratory roost at the William B. Umstead Bridge, Esposito said. The protected species forms the roost each summer late July through August under the western end of the bridge, which connects Roanoke Island to Manns Harbor.

During its peak, an estimated 100,000 birds have been seen coming and going from the bridge at sunset and sunrise daily.

Traffic hitting the birds at the bridge produced more than 2,700 fatalities last year. Monitoring continues through Aug. 26 at the bridge this year with 500 purple martins found dead as of Tuesday.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation recently put up two electronic message boards warning travelers of the birds' presence.

Footage of the roost will be shown at the festival when the director of the Purple Martin Conservation Association, John Tautin, gives a talk on locating and protecting purple martin roosts. Tautin is the retired chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Bird Banding Lab. Esposito will guide an eco-tour of the roost after the festival.

She's gained plenty of experience as a spokeswoman for the protected species. Her forays include hosting evening public education meetings under the auspices of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Manns Harbor Marina parking lot near the bridge.

“I set up a table there with an exhibit board and talk about the birds,” Esposito said. “It's been very gratifying for me to go out and do these public education meetings on Thursday nights and be able to see how many people are coming and how much enthusiasm there is.”

Esposito and her husband, Chris Lucash, are purple martin landlords. They set up their first purple martin house four years ago, but no birds arrived. Year two, they erected an additional house, and 11 pairs of martins gave birth to 36 babies. The following year, they fledged 220 birds. This year saw 77 pairs birthing 350 birds.

“I think we will stop at 100,” Esposito said.

Four 16-foot posts spring from their yard. Atop sit numbered houses and compartments – some are modified natural gourds; others are manufactured gourd-shaped homes or houses with multiple compartments. The accommodations are painted white to keep the birds cooler. They can be lowered by use of a crank to afford easy monitoring of the nests.

Their yard is peppered with wild turkeys, chickens and horses. The family menagerie also includes three birds, three dogs and a cat.

All their pets are strays or animals in need. She's been leading the effort to get added protection for the purple martins being hit and killed at the William B. Umstead Bridge.

Data from the conservation association's records show the species has been flocking there for decades. Still, Esposito says, there are locals who aren't aware of the roost because the birds flock in and out during sunrise and sunset when folks are probably either sleeping or home eating dinner.

Esposito hopes the festival will incite passion for the birds.

“You don't have major changes like permanent protection for this roost without people caring about the issue,” she said. “We want to get the word out, and we want people to be proud of the roost. There are a lot of roosts around the country that you can pick up on Doppler radar, but many of them are not accessible.”

She said she believes that the biggest known colony is in Finger, Tenn., also home to a purple martin festival. And the Lake Ponchartrain Bridge roost in Louisiana, said to be about the same size as the Umstead roost, draws about 3,000 visitors to an observation deck a day, according to Esposito.

Making the local roost more accessible is in the works. Esposito already has met with a landscape architect who is developing plans for a viewing tower in the water, a disabled access fishing pier and additional parking. The development will be situated in the northwest quadrant at the western end of the bridge.

“It will be in a great spot to see the martins coming in from the west,” Esposito said. “We want to put in martin houses, a picnic spot and a place to put a kayak in.”

She estimated that the project would be completed within two to three years.