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A Beginners Guide to North American Purple Martins




Purple Martins are the largest member of the swallow family.
However, in flight their wings are more triangular than other
swallows.


Males have a violet head and body with black on wing and
tail. Females, young,  and first year males are light
bellied and look very similar to smaller swallows.

The song of a martin is a distinctive, low pitched liquid
rolling twitter.


Purple Martins build their nests in cavities of trees,
or holes in cliffs, anywhere from 3 to 30 feet high.
Their nests are made from leaves, grass, straw and twigs.

The eggs are white and unmarked.


Purple Martins feed on a variety of flying insects, flies,
bees, beetles, flying ants and moths.

Many folks build Purple Martin houses which are generally
well liked by the birds. They prefer the wooden condominium
type houses. White is the choice of color for these houses,
as white keeps the house cooler and is attractive to
the birds. The best height is from 15 to 20 in the air.

Picture of Purple Martins



See Also:

Bomb Island

Swallows

Index of All Perching Berds


Index of All Bird Care & Birdie Fun Stuff

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