| PURPLE MARTIN AT A GLANCE NAME: Purple martin
FAMILY: Progne subis, swallow family
DESCRIPTION: Largest of American swallows, 8 inches long. Male: shiny blue-black with
forked tail. Females, duller with gray bellies and mottled throats.
VOICE: Harsh keerp call; gurgling song.
HABITAT: Colonies return each spring to where they hatched. Few male scouts fly ahead
of main flock. Like wide open areas so they can swoop from apartment-style house - called
a martin house - to catch insects, including mosquitoes.
FOOD: Insects
NESTING: 4-5 white eggs in mass of grass.
TO ATTRACT: Install multi-room martin houses 15 to 20 feet above ground on a pole in
open area near water. They also like hollowed-out gourds and dead trees.
Sources: Audubon Guide to North American Birds, Sunset Guide to Attracting Birds,
Ortho's How to Attract Birds |
