Purple Martin Information

Attracting Purple Martins

PURPLE MARTINS are beneficial birds to have in your garden as they eat only flying insects, which they catch in flight. Their diet includes flies, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, June bugs, moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, bees, wasps, flying ants, and some spiders.

Purple Martins are best known for their communal nesting in human built apartment houses. With the proper habitat and purple martin house, they will come back to your yard every year. Purple Martins spend the non-breeding season in South America 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 nest cavities.

The best way to keep these beneficial birds around is with a purple martin house. The major reason people fail to attract martins is that they place their martin housing incorrectly, or their site is inappropriate martin habitat to begin with. Martins have very specific requirements. Your martin house should be placed in the center of the most open spot available, about 30-120 feet from human housing. There should be no trees taller than the martin house within 40-60 feet. Mount your martin house 10-20 feet high and keep tall bushes, shrubs and vines away from the pole. A permanent source of water in the area is also a good attractant as water will attract flying insects which in turn attract martins.

No matter where you live, keep your housing up through August. Martins may arrive and begin nesting as late as the end of June anywhere in North America, and in July and August this year's young will be scouting for next year's breeding sites.

Learn more about Purple Martin Houses

Learn more about Purple Martins at the Purple Martin Conservation Association