The Purple Martin

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfc3.jpg"> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="155aa960.jpg" border=0 width="170" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="156aaeb0.jpg" border=0 width="170" height="235" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Entrances By Sandy</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>    </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Entrances By Sandy"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Introduction"><U>Introduction</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News and Events"><U>News and Events</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Location"><U>Location</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id229.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Weather Page"><U>My Weather Page</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact and Ordering Info"><U>Contact and Ordering Info</U></A>   |   <B>The Purple Martin</B>   |   <A HREF="id178.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Purple Martin Roosts"><U>Purple Martin Roosts</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id242.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Supplemental Feeding"><U>Supplemental Feeding</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id174.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Colony"><U>My Colony</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photos By Others"><U>Photos By Others</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Starling Resistant Entrance Solutions"><U>Starling Resistant Entrance Solutions</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Products By Others"><U>Products By Others</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id156.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Owl Attack"><U>Owl Attack</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id172.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Video Clips"><U>Video Clips</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Growing Gourds"><U>Growing Gourds</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id145.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Do It Yourself Projects"><U>Do It Yourself Projects</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id217.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Research"><U>Research</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id140.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="In Memoriam"><U>In Memoriam</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id245.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1969 Camaro"><U>1969 Camaro</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=380 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I><B>The Purple Martin</B></I></div> <div> The Purple Martin (Progne subis) is a beautiful and graceful migratory bird.  It is the largest swallow in the United States.  Its wingspan can be up to 18" and its length up to 8". They feed entirely on flying insects.  They catch all their prey on the wing.  It spends its time in either South America, migrating north or south, or in North America.  It comes to North America just to breed and raise its young.  Then, it migrates back to South America and starts the cycle all over again.</div> <div>   </div> <div> It nests in colonies with other Purple Martins.  It used to nest in old woodpecker holes, or any other cavity it could find.  Many years ago, Native Americans started offering gourds for them to nest in.  Now, after many years, the Purple Martins, east of the Rockies, nest mostly in manmade housing.  This housing can be gourds, natural or plastic, or manmade houses, usually made from aluminum, plastic, or wood.  The latest scientific studies show that the size of the gourds should be a minimum of 10" diameter.  For houses, the compartment size should be a minimum of 10" deep, and a minimum of 7" wide.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="04a40f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Whatever style of housing is chosen, it should be manageable.  In this case, manageable means the ability to lower the housing and look into it at anytime, whether there are nests with eggs or chicks in it or not.  Nest inspections are critical for knowing what is in each cavity, and knowing the health of whatever is in the cavity.  The nests should be accessible so that wet nests can be changed, as well as, looking for parasites such as mites and blowfly larvae.  These parasites need to be dealt with for they can kill the young chicks or force them to jump from the nest prematurely.  Houses should have the ability to be opened up for inspections.  Gourds should have access ports added to them for inspections.</div> <bR> <div> Purple Martins have several predators and nest competitors.  Both can spell doom for a colony or prevent a colony from getting established.  Predators include: hawks, owls, snakes, and raccoons.  Guards should be placed around the bottom of the poles for ground-based predators and around houses or gourds for aerial based predators.  Nest competitors are the European Starling and English House Sparrow.  These two birds were imported into the United States during the late 1800's and are not native to the United States. This means they are an unprotected species and can be dealt with by trapping and killing or shooting.   They have both flourished because they have no competitors or predators and they each nest 2 or 3 times a year.  A pair of Purple Martins only nest once, as a general rule.  A starling can take on any cavity nesting bird and kill it.  English House Sparrows do their dirty work by pinning the eggs or killing the babies and then building their nest on top of the bodies.  Once either of these competitors decides it wants a nesting cavity, only death will deter them.  This is the whole basis of my little business.  I build <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Starling Resistant Entrance Solutions"><U>Starling Resistant Entrance Holes(SREH)</U></A></FONT> for houses and gourds.  There are no such holes for English House Sparrows since they are smaller than Purple Martins, so if a martin can enter a cavity, so can an English House Sparrow.  One should give serious consideration to the control of these two species before one decides they want to attract Purple Martins.  The three cannot co-exist.  The Purple Martins will eventually lose out.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="6805e070.jpg" border=0 width="350" height="263" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> This is the beak of an European Starling.  It is a lethal weapon to all cavity nesting birds, including woodpeckers.  Thanks to Holly Deaton for the picture.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="6825e070.jpg" border=0 width="350" height="263" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Another view of the deadly needle beak.  Thanks to Holly Deaton for the picture.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="6845e070.jpg" border=0 width="350" height="263" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> These are the claws of an European Starling.  These, also, are deadly weapons to any cavity nester if the starling decides it wants that particular cavity.  Thanks to Holly Deaton for the picture.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="6865e070.jpg" border=0 width="350" height="263" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> This picture shows the strength of the starling's claw and grip.  Thanks to Holly Deaton for the picture.</div> <bR> <div> <B>ASY Female killed by a starling.  This is why one must control (eliminate, not relocate) starlings and English House Sparrows.</B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="eee58c20.jpg" border=0 width="600" height="450" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> This is just a brief synopsis of the Purple Martin and some of the perils it faces.  There is much more in-depth information available on the Internet.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="116902b0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="299" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Photo courtesy of Gene Glaser</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact and Ordering Info"><U><B>Previous Page</B></U></A><B>          </B><A HREF="mailto:sbunn1@suddenlink.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:sbunn1@suddenlink.net"><U><B>Contact Me</B></U></A><A HREF="mailto:sbunn1@suddenlink.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:sbunn1@suddenlink.net"><U><B> </B></U></A><B>         </B><A HREF="id178.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Purple Martin Roosts"><U><B>Ne</B></U></A><A HREF="id178.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Purple Martin Roosts"><U><B>xt Page</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div>  <embed src="HTMLobj-336/PM_Sounds.wav" autostart="true" loop="true" hidden="true">  </div> </td> </tr></table></body>