Purple Martin Houses

PURPLE MARTIN HOUSES WHICH BIRD HOUSES DID OUR PURPLE MARTINS LIKE BEST? Don & Betty Scott | Rushville, OH Three winters ago, we mounted 34 Purple Martin Houses with 362 nesting cavities around our home. We were delighted to have 28 pairs of these acrobatic... More

PURPLE MARTIN HOUSES WHICH BIRD HOUSES DID OUR PURPLE MARTINS LIKE BEST? Don & Betty Scott | Rushville, OH Three winters ago, we mounted 34 Purple Martin Houses with 362 nesting cavities around our home. We were delighted to have 28 pairs of these acrobatic martins arrive and raise their young. Since the first year, we added many more Martin houses and their numbers have more than doubled each year. We kept records to study and help the Purple Martin species, they are amazing. This year we had 112 nesting pair with most pairs raising two different groups of hatchlings. They averaged just over four hatchlings per nest. With so many martins, it is difficult to know the exact number we have this morning because there are many hundreds flying everywhere. They flap their wings gaining altitude and then glide around suddenly making steep banks to capture insects. With a 13-acre lake and two ponds near our home, their food habitat is plentiful. The martins nesting above our garden are extreme Less