PURPLE MARTIN GALLERY
(Progne subis)
eBird provides this description of the Purple Martin: Largest swallow in the U.S. Rather long notched tail and long, pointed wings. In the eastern U.S., nests exclusively in nest boxes and martin houses; also uses natural cavities in parts of the western U.S. Adult males are dark overall with a purplish-blue iridescence visible up close. Females are grayer with some patterning on the underparts; immatures have a white belly. Gives a liquid gurgling call. Winters in South America, where identification is complicated by several other extremely similar species of martin.
In 2015, my new next door neighbor put up a very nice Purple Martin House on the deck above his boathouse. That year, I enjoyed watching the birds his house attracted, so I decided to put one up in 2016. I bought the exact house my neighbor had. I didn’t attract any Purple Martins that year but, in 2017, I had a full house and really enjoyed watching the residents. Unfortunately, the last two years, neither my neighbor nor I have had any Purple Martins. Please come back, I miss you!
“Cool Facts” About Purple Martins From All About Birds…
- Despite the term “scout” used for the first returning Purple Martins, the first arriving individuals are not checking out the area to make sure it is safe for the rest of the group. They are the older martins returning to areas where they nested before. Martins returning north to breed for their first time come back several weeks later. The earlier return of older individuals is a common occurrence in species of migratory birds.
- The Purple Martin not only gets all its food in flight, it gets all its water that way too. It skims the surface of a pond and scoops up the water with its lower bill.
- The Purple Martin Conservation Association supports the study of the Purple Martin and provides information on its website. The Purple Martin Society of North America also provides information on martins and martin houses.
- Putting up martin houses used to be so common that John James Audubon used them to choose his lodgings for the night. In 1831, he remarked, “Almost every country tavern has a martin box on the upper part of its sign-board; and I have observed that the handsomer the box, the better does the inn generally prove to be.”
- Native Americans hung up empty gourds for the Purple Martin before Europeans arrived in North America. Purple Martins in eastern North America now nest almost exclusively in birdhouses, but those in the West use mostly natural cavities.
- European Starlings and House Sparrows often push Purple Martins out of local areas by taking over all of the nest sites, including houses that people put up specifically for the martins.
- Purple Martins roost together by the thousands in late summer, as soon as the chicks leave the nest. They form such dense gatherings that you can easily see them on weather radar. It’s particularly noticeable in the early morning as the birds leave their roosts for the day, and looks like an expanding donut on the radar map.
- The oldest Purple Martin on record was at least 13 years, 9 months old, banded in 1933 and found in 1947. It lived in Illinois.
A PURPLE MARTIN HOUSE SIDENOTE…
Upon hearing of my interest in Purple Martins, Betty Dardeau, my mother-in-law, gave me a handcrafted wooden Purple Martin birdhouse. This little house had been made by the Rev. Ted Pfeifer, brother of longtime family friend Bishop Michael Pfeifer. “Father Mike” as Bishop Pfeifer is known, has been a family friend since my wife Dorothy and her family met him in the early 1960s. His Oblate Order had a retreat next to their property on the bay in Port Lavaca, Texas, and that is where their friendship was formed. Anyway, I bought a nice wooden pedestal for the house and placed it near our back door overlooking the lake. It stayed there until the Fall of 2018 when Betty moved from her home on the Comal River to an assisted living facility nearby. I noticed that many of the residents had displays of various types outside the doors to their apartments, so I decided that is where the Purple Martin House needed to be. I had a plaque made and affixed it to the roof and took it out to decorate the area around Betty’s front door. It is my hope that it has brought her comfort and pleasure!
