Purple Martins for Insect Control

LamiPub · #21 01/12/08, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agmantoo

Queen Bee and Mom_of_Four
With the purple martins it is like us with real estate. It is all in location and some in presentation.
The PMs like to have free access to their homes. No buildings or trees within a couple hundred feet.
With homes they like to progress to the fancy houses from simple gourds.
I would hang a couple of natural gourds from the same support used to hold the house.
There are exceptions to what I posted but if you want birds starting from scratch try what I stated.
Also toast in the oven some broken chicken eggs shells and place them off the ground near the "new" homes. These birds are not going to the ground readily other than to get nesting materials. Purple martins depend on man for their housing. There is not one documented case of them nesting in a natural location. The American Indians started the birds dependency on man. Often people confuse the PM with barn swallows and will refute this last statement.

www.purplemartin.org

The web site we found states, "Purple Martins spend the non-breeding season in Brazil then migrate to North America to nest. East of the Rockies they are totally dependent on human-supplied housing. West of the Rockies and in the deserts they largely nest in their ancestral ways, in abandoned woodpecker nest cavitities. In the Pacific northwest, Martins are beginning to use gourds and clusters of single-unit boxes for nesting."

agmantoo · #22 01/12/08, 10:43 AM

I accept your correction to my statement! My exposure to the purple martins is in the eastern part of the US and I actually was unaware that the purple martins frequent some of the areas you reference. Thanks for the update.

LamiPub · #23 01/12/08, 11:09 AM

You know what, argmantoo, I think the website I got that info from is the same one you lised. It is one the best sites we have found.

http://purplemartin.org/main/mgt.html

WalkingHorseTX · #24 01/12/08, 07:51 PM

Hi! We've had a Purple Martin colony for years at our old place. It killed us to move and leave them. Fortunately we sold to a family that enjoys nature as much as we do. We actually left our gourd system for the buyers so that our established colony would not be disrupted.

Now that we are out in the country, we are so excited to start building a new colony again.

On to your question about Martins and mosquito control. They are actually counter productive in that regard. Martins love dragon flies. Dragon flies love mosquitos. So as you can imagine, the Martins don't really help with keeping the mosquito population in check.

Bats are definitely one way to go. Just be sure to install your bat house correctly as they are quite particular. I will tell you that bat houses tend to accumulate quite a stink!

Kimberly

unregistered29228 · #25 01/12/08, 07:55 PM

So, does anyone clean their Martin houses while the babies are in the nest?

WalkingHorseTX · #26 01/12/08, 08:09 PM

Hey Mom_of_Four! I am by no means an expert but have been honored to host Martins for the past ten years (and hopefully this year in our new place!).

The only time I would clean a Martin house while the babies are still there is if the house was taken over by detrimental insects such as fire ants. Otherwise I think it is best to leave them be.

Kimberly

unregistered29228 · #27 01/12/08, 09:01 PM

That makes sense to me....and we do have fire ants here, but the link I posted earlier made it sound like everyone cleans the nests during nesting time. I think I'll wait and see what activity I see. Our house will be on a 15' pole so I can't imagine fire ants that high up.

Thanks!

WalkingHorseTX · #28 01/12/08, 09:21 PM

We have them here too (SE Texas) and quite frankly I have never had a problem with them but do know from others I have talked to that it can (rarely) become an issue. Mites are another thing to be aware of. Quite honestly I think that all that is really needed is a good annual cleaning of the nesting sites after they migrate.

I'm just of the mindset that less is more...be a good steward but don't interfere too much.

Kimberly

Toads tool · #29 01/13/08, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mom_of_Four

So, does anyone clean their Martin houses while the babies are in the nest?

I was always taught that you never touch a baby bird, the mom will reject it.

In Griggsville Illinois They claim to be the Purple Martin capital of the world.
They even have/had a purple luxury train called The Purple Martin.
In the center of their split main drag is the largest collection of Martin Houses I have ever seen. Was never bothered by any bug when in that town.

They only clean the houses out once a year.

Quint · #30 01/14/08, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toads tool

I was always taught that you never touch a baby bird, the mom will reject it

Old wives tale that gets told to most children to keep them from messing with nests of dragging home baby birds.

I have purple martins, phoebes, barn swallows and all sorts of those types of birds. I also have a bunch of bat houses. The bats are quite fun to watch of an evening. I have quite a few blue bird houses too and I'm goign to build a bunch more this spring.

Do they really help keep down insect populations? I dunno. Possibly. In theory I suppose they do. I just like having them around. Any insect control is simply a benefit.

The Paw · #31 01/14/08, 09:40 AM

I am surprised no one mentioned this, but every purple martin I ever met will dive bomb you if they have eggs in the nest. They will fly at your head and swerve by your ear at the last minute. As kids, we used to go to a large swingset near a purple martin house and within 10 minutes it would look like a scene out of Tora! Tora! Tora!

Having said that, none of them has ever collided with me. It just takes a bit of getting used to.