Simply For The Birds

A beautiful and rich purple color, one of the most common birds that people love to spot and track is the Purple Martin. A member of the swallow family, they are renowned for being the largest in this group. To that end, they are around 20 cm long. You can differentiate an adult for a youth by the size and the presence of a forked tail, which the adults possess.

They utilize this tail to help them perform their very acrobat aerial moves. As such, the Purple Martin is often noted for his agility and speed. This is partly why so many people seek out Purple Martin bird houses. They want to attract these fun and beautiful birds to their home. Devoted bird watchers should be aware that the Purple Martin is most abundant on the East Coast of America with a few scatterings of sightings on the West Coast.

If you want to put up a Purple Martin bird house, you must do it just right or you will never attract them.  Once they do come, they will continue to come year after year unless some change is made in your situation that discourages their return.

Here is a brief overview of what is required to draw Purple Martins to your house:

• Place house in center of the most open space available – 30 to 120 feet from your house

• There shouldn’t be any trees taller than the Purple Martin house closer than 40-60 feet

• Mount the houses on poles 10 to 20 feet high

• Boat docks make excellent locations for mounting martin houses.

If you are serious about bringing Purple Martins to your yard, do your research first before mounting the houses.  It will pay off in the end.