Purple Martin Habits

Once you've identified a Purple Martin in your backyard you'll be hooked for sure. And If you're lucky enough to get a colony of Purple Martins nesting, your summers will never be the same.

Year after year they'll return to bring you the joy of watching their mating, nesting, and feeding habits close up.

Purple Martins are the largest of the North American swallows and One of the few birds that allow you an opportunity to have a hands on approach to bird watching.

Description

The Purple Martin is about 8 inches in overall length. The tail is slightly forked. Adult males in their second year are entirely black with a glossy steel blue sheen. These second year adult males are the easiest to identify.

Some beginners mistakenly identify Starlings and/or Tree Swallows for Martins.

Adult females in their second year are dark on top with some of the blue sheen. The underparts are lighter. Subadult females(those who've made a single migration trip) look like adult females without the steel blue sheen on the back.

Subadult males are a little easier to identify. Looking similar to females but will have solid black feathers on their chest in blotchy, random patterns.

Mating Habits

Second year adult males generally return first from their wintering grounds in Brazil to claim nesting cavities at the same site as the previous year. Provided that nesting site is still available. On occasion, adult females will get to the nesting site first but it is the males job to attract a female to a selected nesting cavity.

The males will show the female maybe several nesting cavities. The female will pick which she desires and the male, regardless of which cavity he may have preferred, will follow the female to her selected site.

Within four weeks, the subadult Martins (those returning from their first migration) will begin returning to mate for their first nesting season. The young males may fight with each other and the older males in order to mate with any available females.

The adult second year males tend to be preferred by the females for breeding.

Nesting Habits

East of the Rockies, the Purple Martin is totally dependent on man-made housing. It's important for the individual hosting these swallows to provide the best housing and management techniques they can provide.

Martins prefer nesting in larger cavities than was previously thought. Most manufactured housing was a 6 inch by 6 inch cavity. Smart manufactures are making housing cavities with more depth, approaching 11 inches deep and 7 inches wide. Natural and Plastic gourds are used and provide the martins deep and wide nesting cavities. Gourds can also provide protection from flying predators like owls from reaching in to attack the nestlings.

The nesting behavior can be watched with relative ease. Females will begin gathering nesting materials and bringing them back to the nest cavity. Flying to the top of a tree she will tear a leaf off with her beak and bring it back to the nest site.

Martin Starter Home

If you watch a single pair you may notice each time the female enters the nest the male will sing his song. This may be to let her know he is nearby while she is inside the nest. The nest is made from natural material available in the area: pine needles, grass, sticks, straw and leaves. Nest building takes anywhere from 1 - 2 weeks.

The female will lay from 3 - 7 eggs with the average about 4 per clutch. Generally speaking, younger females lay fewer eggs than more mature females. Incubation is done by both birds with the female carrying out the bulk of incubation. An interesting note for birdwatchers not familiar with Martins is that incubation is not continuous. The eggs are covered with leaves and both male and female may go feeding with the eggs unattended.

This can be a dangerous time as House sparrows, House Wrens, or Starlings can enter and destroy the eggs during this time.

Incubation last for about 15 - 17 days. The young will stay in the nest anywhere from 28 - 32 days before leaving. Once the young fledge the nest the parents will continue to feed them and teach them to catch their own food.

Once the young learn to fly and catch their own food they will go their own way and will no longer be dependent on their parents for their survival.

Feeding Habits

Purple Martins are aerial insectivores. They only catch insects from the air to eat. Their diet consist of Dragonflies, damselflies, cicadas, grasshoppers, katydids, moths, butterflies, wasps, beetles, stink bugs, mayflies, bees, midges, and horse flies.

The myth about Martins feeding on mosquitoes is just that, a myth.

Predators

NEW! Do You Host Purple Martins In Your Yard? Please share your story. What type of housing do you have, how many Purple Martins are using your housing. And Most of All, share a picture of your site. - To share your story Click Here

Purple Martins have many predators and it is incumbent on Martin landlords to do all they can to protect the birds they are hosting. Predators include: Hawks, snakes, raccoons, opossums, European Starlings, House Sparrows, and Owls.

Using predator guards and netting on poles will keep snakes and 4 legged predators from climbing the pole and killing the martins.

Trapping and eliminating European Starlings and House Sparrows is a must for the Martins to survive. These two introduced species do more harm to our native cavity nesters than any other species.

See Also:

Attracting Purple Martins

Watch As A Purple Martin Suns Itself

Watch A Nestling Martin Peeking Out

Back to List of Birds

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Black Beauties
My first attempt was a HIT!! My second attempt was an even bigger HIT! I currently have 12 pairs in my second year with plastic gourd houses!

I ...

Our Purple Martin Setup
This is the city Purple Martin setup by Wild-Bird-Watching.com

It consist of Two S&K 12 Family Best House Martin Houses. Four S&K Big Bo Gourds and ...

Purple Martin Set Up 2009 Not rated yet
This is/was the Wild-Bird-Watching.com Purple Martin Set Up for 2009.

Two S&K Best Houses converted to 6 large rooms each. We added 8 of the new S&K ...

Proper Housing Not rated yet
I first purchased a house with 12 units 1 1/2 yrs ago. I saw a male and female explore the unit for a few days and then they left and never returned.

This ...

Better Each Year Not rated yet
I put up this gourd mount for the martins four years ago. The day I put it up they found it and have been returning each year.

I have since changed ...