Anyone else have this passion? Purple Martins? Whats a Purple Martin? It is the largest swallow in the swallow family. They are migratory birds, migrating to South America, starting the journey in August, and start to return in late January (Florida), and make it up to my colony site in mid-February. Once you manage to attract them, the same Martins come back to the same site, unless they die. This is called site fidelity. They rely 100% on human-made housing, mostly gourds, but some also use multi compartment houses. We started trying to attract Purple Martins in 2010. Nothing. Then, in 2015, that changed. we actually had 4 pair, nesting and fledgling babies. What a hoot. It just went up from there. 2015: 4 pair 2016: Capacity: 42 - 32 pair 2017: Capacity: 42 - 39 pair 2018: Capacity: 70 - 60 pair - 270 fledged 2019: Capacity: 72 - 70 pair - 315 fledged We had 70 pair on 3 racks last season. We live on quite a bit of land, so plenty of space, which they actually require, as they spend most of their time on the wing, either feeding, drinking or just having fun. They are amazingly agile flyers. It has been a journey, and a fun one. A lot of work, if you want to do it right, and taking care of them. That include nest checks, among other things. The racks come down easy as the hub is hanging on a wire going up, then over a pulley at the top, anding up at the bottom on a winch. The black "ball" at the bottom of the rack are snake netting Males have a deep purple color, while females are lighter colored.
The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?
My dad watches them like a hawk. Just kidding. Yes, we have two houses for them and they are enjoyable to watch.
We have thousands of them here in hell! They migrate through and many folks love watching them. I don't know much about them but I do know they eat bugs like crazy! Also, don't have a car or park to close to their houses... Down here on the shore, we are a huge migration path for birds going North and South, We also get early Humming birds as well. My wife has some fabulous pics of them on our feeders.
Thanks for the thread and pictures Viking, I'm in the process of building my second purple martin house (14 rooms). With any luck I will have it up by February when the scouts arrive here in East Texas.
