Franklin and Bethany Bidinger, who live near Clinton Lake, eagerly await the spring arrival of purple martins to their home, where they have dozens of painted gourd houses for the birds. The purple martins have been slow in arriving this year, the Bidingers said.

Franklin Bidinger’s house guests are running late.

He’s never had to wait this long for the return of the purple martins.

“As far as I know, we have two here now. We should have between 40 to 50. We’ve got quite a few calls from Oklahoma, across Kansas and Missouri, and no one seems to have the martins,” said Bidinger, who lives in the old schoolhouse on the west side of Clinton Lake.

The birds are a swallow species known as being totally dependent on humans for their housing.

Bidinger and his wife, Bethany, used to stage a purple martin festival each spring, but now they just invite people to come to their home and watch the birds flock to the many bird houses and gourds on the property.

The purple martins migrate back north, including to Kansas, each spring, and they nest in colonies inside bird houses and human-constructed gourds that are hung from large racks in open areas. The Bidingers are well-known among purple martin enthusiasts because of their large complexes near the village of Clinton.

The nonprofit Purple Martin Conservation Association keeps an online database that allows bird-watchers in each state to record when they begin to spot purple martins. The first bird was sighted Feb. 27 in Cheney, and as of Wednesday evening, about 70 adult birds were found, including at two sites in Lawrence, one in De Soto, one in Berryton and one in Linwood.

Sometimes it can be April before most purple martins reach the northern parts of Kansas, said Louise Chambers, the association’s education and outreach director, from Corpus Christi, Texas.

“It’s hard for people to be patient. They’ve been waiting since last summer to see their birds,” Chambers said. “Give them another six weeks, and the whole state of Kansas will be purple on that map. It may not even take that long and people will be a lot happier.”

Greg and Cathy Thrasher, who live in western Lawrence, had seven birds in their yard Wednesday afternoon.

“They’ve got to have insects to eat, and if they get too far north and if they don’t have the food supply, they get in trouble,” Greg Thrasher said.