Purple Martin Colony at Kealing Middle School

My name is Kieran McDonald, I am currently in the 8th grade at Kealing Middle School in Austin, Texas.  I am raising funds to purchase,  install, and manage a Purple Martin Colony at my school so that students in the Animal Studies class can learn hands-on about birds, conservation, and making a difference in the world.  Read more about my story below.

Thanks for your time and I hope that you will support my project.
 
Kieran McDonald

It was August 2018 when I first met Purple Martins at a Travis Audubon PM roosting event in a parking lot in Austin, Texas. I didn’t know what to expect but the birds immediately mesmerized me with their coordinated flight – the swirling, turning, acrobatic performance was amazing before they all landed in the trees only to take flight again a few moments later. The large number of birds at the roost made it difficult to understand how they could be threatened but in talking with the volunteers, my family and I began to better understand how the Purple Martins have come to rely on humans and that more people need to take action to help them survive.

 

In February 2019 I led a group at my school, the Patton Elementary Eco Team, to install a 12-gourd colony on the school grounds. The entire school supported the effort by making small donations and we all worked really hard, successfully fledgling 20 birds in the first year! At the Purple Martin roosting event the following summer my Travis Audubon mentor, Denise Daley connected me with a reporter from the Austin American Statesman for an interview, here is a link to the resulting article: Austin American Statesman Article 

 

Now I want to install a colony at my current school, Kealing Middle School this winter to be ready for when the Purple Martins return in February. The plan for this colony is to have more gourds (18), hopefully an informational sign (pending approvals), and I am going to train the Animal Studies class to learn how to manage the colony so that the class will manage the colony for the long term. I think this will help to instill values of conservation in the next generation as well teach them to appreciate all birds, including Purple Martins. I also hope that it will help students to appreciate the environment and how meaningful conservation work can be. Holding and sizing a tiny baby Purple Martin can be an inspiration for conservation.

 

My project will be in 3 parts:

 

Any extra funds raised will be divided between  the Purple Martin Conservation Association and Travis Audubon.  I will report back with my progress and pictures of our progress. Below are some pictures from the colony at Patton.  If you have any questions, please contact me through my father Michael clicking on contact the organizer.

 

Thanks for your time and I hope that you will support my project.

Kieran

A beautiful nest lined with leaves

Newly hatch Purple Martins!

Sizing a hatchling to determine how many days old it is.