Well just say yippie for me. I just got a purple martin bird house. Finally! Now the purple martins are already back in the united states and have selected their nesting sites, having babies and all that stuff you want purple martins to do in your yard, but I have always wanted a bird house for them and whelp, now I have one.
Martins are something I have not gotten into because I was leery of fighting with house sparrows, wasps, starlings or whatever may become an issue with them. Plus, many many years ago my father had one and let me tell you, it was a total production to raise and lower for maintenance. Fortunately times have changed and raising and lowering these large, multi bird dwellings has become much less of an issue. These days there are light weight aluminum ploes, rope, pully and lanyard systems to make the job a whole lot easier!
Then there was the problem where I decided that I did not have enough open space to attract and support nesting purple martins and their families. I figured that my mostly wooded property would not be suited for hunting insects and feeding babies. I think that I have been fighting my urge to try attracting martins and I am not sure why – some deeply weird reason I am sure. Anyhow the last few weeks I have noticed purple martins flying over my house and hunting, apparently for food for nestlings, and I thought geeze, why all the resistance? So I broke down and ordered myself a purple martin bird house and will be well prepared for next spring.
