Monday, July 23, 2007

Birdhouses in their souls


Purple martins! My story on Amish barn builder and electrical engineer Evan Gingerich and his martin colony made page one above the fold of the Daily Iowan today. The picture was taken by one of my former students, Ben Roberts. I took Ben down to Evan's farm about a month ago and we cranked down Evan's purple martin house and pulled out a baby. Ben said: "He even looks like a "Martin!" People who have martin colonies call themselves 'landlords' and get pretty obsessive about their tenants.

3 comments:

Emily said...

That is a great hand! Who's hand is that?

Unknown said...

I agree very nice hand in that picture.

Unknown said...

What a delightful story! You've really captured the love these people feel for the creatures. The birds' dependence on humans is a fascinating angle . . . especially since (as you wrote) they don't eat as many mosquitoes as once thought. Great photo, too! I wish the DI online posted photos. I like your title better though--I think it evokes the kindly devotion that is expressed in this piece. Have you thought about taking it to the Iowan magazine or some place like that? I bet others would love to read it.