Here's hoping you attract purple martins right away. (See sidebar at right.)īest of success with your purple martin colony. You might also want to put a couple of purple martin decoys on some of your houses just to enhance the illusion that there is a colony there. That's how you get them to notice your purple martin houses in the first place. (That would lead to inbreeding, which would weaken the colony.) Most seek a home in a different colony.Īnd when they hear the dawn song of the adult males, they fly down and take a look. Most of them don't go back to the colony where they hatched. Young purple martins, returning from the south for the first time, are looking for a place to nest. (See sidebar at top right of this page.) In a thriving colony, adult males fly up high above the housing very early in the morning and sing a special dawn song. You can help attract young birds by playing purple martin songs early If you maintain it well, it can keep going all your life. The couple will be the patriarch and matriarch of your colony. Martin to accept your housing, he will try to get a female to accept him.Īnd that is the great day, when the first female lays the first egg in your housing. (Sometimes you can attract adults, if their previous housing has fallen into neglect and sparrows or starlings have been allowed to move in.)īirds are looking for a place to nest for the first time, and They are going straight back to their previous nests. (The adult males look all blue-black, like Chuck Abare's photo at right.) They usually won't use your new martin house, because ( Chuck's website has loads of information about purple martins.) But they don'tĪrrive until the adults have been here for over a month.Īdult purple martins, birds who are two or more years old, They look mottled like Chuck Abare's photo at left. Young males who were hatched last year are in their first nesting season. Or if it's already in place, keep the holes plugged until Up until four to six weeks after the first purple martinsĪrrive. Others succeed the first day the house is up. House up for several years before attracting the desired residents. Getting purple martins to accept a new martin house is a different All you have to do is clean it out inįall, protect it from starlings and sparrows, and perhaps repaint Once purple martins have used a martin house, they will return
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