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All about purple martins!

Purple martins (Progne subis) largest member of the swallow family, were first attracted to Native American villages with hollowed out gourds. Not a "feeder" bird, their diet consists of flying insects - and where mosquitoes are present, the martins' consumption of mosquitoes makes outdoor activities enjoyable and pleasant for their hosts, who are called "landlords". By the middle of the twentieth century, natural habitat had all but disappeared, and purple martins were a near-endangered species. In 1962, J.L. Wade, with encouragement from Griggsville area Jaycees, began an awareness program to bring the plight of this beneficial bird before the general public. Purple martins are now totally dependent on man-made buildings. Today's superior housing is made of all-aluminum construction, now manufactured by ERVA Tool & Mfg. of Chicago.

One or two martin scouts arrive first at the beginning of each season. (View our migration map to learn the approximate scout date for your area.) It's 2-3 weeks after scouts are spotted, before the rest of the martin colony starts to arrive - and longer for the immature birds' arrival.

Egg incubation usually takes 14-16 days. Baby martins will fledge about 28 days from day of hatching. And what a sight to see! All martins in the area come to help encourage the "youngsters" take their first flight. After martins fledge, they begin gathering together in nearby roost areas.

Before their final leg of migration back to Brazil for their winter home, martins gather en masse, many of them share a final roosting area at North America's largest known roost underneath Lake Pontchartrain bridge in New Orleans.

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