Purple Martins

[Darryl Young]

Anone have purple martin housing up at your home? I've had a colony for the past 6 years. Had over 60 pair two years ago and a huge storm snapped everyone of the poles my housing was on. I lost over 250 eggs and it took me a day or two to get most of the housing back up (wasn't able to get it all back in place) and I ended up with roghly 35 pair that re-nested. Last year I had about 50 pair and I hope to be back up to full capacity at 64 pair this year (fingers crossed). Sure fun to watch them flying in the wind. I have my housing setup so I can lower the houses down where my girls can check the nests for eggs and babies.

Tonight the first martin arrived returning from the winter migration. It's wild to think that this martin was in Brazil only a few days ago! It was a solid black male and he and I were both excited he was home.

[deadedith]

When I sit in the garden and stay very quiet, I start to hear birds all over the place, you know they are talking....it would be a much lesser world, for me, without them.

But no purple Martins in this neck of the woods...

[Ben-Had]

I have a Purple Martin and I nearly killed my son when he spray painted that guitar!

[seanbig]

Darryl,

My grandfather built a purple martin bird house for my father when I was about 4 years old. I've got photos of my brother and I helping them install it on a pole and cement the pole in the ground. We had the bird house for about 20 years until it came down a couple of years ago in a bad storm. We never did get any purple martins all the years it was up. After it came down my mom and I read about the houses a bit more and it seems as though we did not have good placement for the house.

Your story of all the birds coming and going down and back from Brazil sounds almost magical.

[Darryl Young]

Sean, the pair that started my colony started in a particular nest facing my house (poles are in the back yard). FYI, the older the Martin is, the earlier they tend to return from Brazil. For the next 3 years the first bird that showed up was a male and though I had 64 nests to choose from, when he came in to spend the night that first bird would dive down and go to that exact same gourd. So I have to believe it was the same bird that started my colony. Can you imagine having no map, no navigation, yet you fly from Brazil to NW Arkansas and choose the same gourd on the same rack on the same pole.......and do it 4 years in a row???

[seanbig]

I know, animals are particularly bewildering and mystifying with things like that. It is amazing that they know where home is and come back and sweep off the porch year after year.

[Rob]

I expect mine to be arriving any day now, we average 10 pair every year in one house and look forward to seeing playing in the yard and chasing our cat!

[Darryl Young]

Ha, they dive bomb our cat as well.......especially when they have eggs or nestlings/fledglings.