Purple Martins and butterflies

10 years ago

I have a butterfly garden in my yard, and recently a friend gave me a Purple Martin box to put up in my backyard. Hmmmm. I feel like they would eat my butterflies. Would they? Thanks! Beth Zone 8

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Comments (8)

Tom
10 years ago
Yes, they will eat some, but not many. The ones they seem to like are the yellow ones, the sulphurs. Mostly they eat dragon flies and other insects that fly way up in the sky.

I have a purple martin "condo" and right now there are three nesting pairs. They don't seem to bother most of my butterflies.

I love to watch the purple martins. They are so graceful in flight.
dragonflydee
10 years ago
Down here in south AL a lot of people do have Martin houses,and
Gourds.I think maybe the house would protect the birds better
Than the gourds but I keep neither.

I hear people talk abt using the birds to eat Mosquitos,but
Since I also keep a abt 30ft long by abt 20ft wide gunite
Pool/pond fully aquatic planted for dragonflies I really
Don't think I want Martins.

I am a butterfly person,too and I garden for them.

I keep a bunch of hanging bird feeders out front and
A large platform station for all kind of birds including
Woodpeckers.I feed year round Blk Sunflower seed
And cracked corn.

I have lots of butterflies in the yard,and the birds do
Not seem to bother them too much,but I also have
A lot of grass in the yard and my yard is rather
Natural.I do not mow much during nesting season.
So,I have LOTS of insects on the ground of all species.

So that provides a lot of food for nestlings.

Since Martins feed up in the sky(don't they?)would they
Chase butterflies more than Mosquitos and other tiny
High fliers?

Some of the BG group will probably know...

How much do you want to try the birds?

DD
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bethpierce77
Original Author
10 years ago
I would really like to try the house out, but it is probably too late to get any Purple Martins for this year. But before I put it up, I wanted to get an idea from y'all on how many butterflies they would eat! Thanks for all of the advice.
Tom
10 years ago
Probably not too late if there are a number of birds in the area. I first put mine up in April and got two or three pairs the first year. I would encourage you to put it up. You will enjoy the martins and they really won't endanger your butterflies.

Martins feed during the day, a time when there aren't many mosquitoes around. Since they do eat the dragonflies and they eat mosquitoes I think that the martins don't make a positive dent in the mosquito population.
caterwallin
10 years ago
I had heard about the fallacy (only I didn't know it at the time) that purple martins eat a lot of mosquitoes, and since we were having a problem with mosquitoes, I decided to buy a martin house. I think the box that the house came in said that martins "can eat up to 2,000 mosquitoes a day, which is far from the truth. The mosquitoes are just starting to come out when the martins are going into their houses and gourds for the night, so martins eat very few mosquitoes but do eat a lot of dragonflies. As I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that if I'd get martins, maybe I'd have even more of a mosquito problem since they eat the dragonflies, which eat the mosquitoes. So I'm not too upset that I never got them here. It does perturb me, though, that I put so much money and time into trying to attract them. I tried for them for 19 years and finally gave up and started butterfly gardening, which I enjoy very much.

I don't think that you have to worry too much about the martins putting a big dent in your butterfly population. They eat some but not a whole lot.

Cathy
garyfla_gw
10 years ago
Hi
I put up a martin house a couple of years ago. First thing I got was a swarm of honey bees . Removed those got a colony of paper wasps sprayed those now serves as a sunning area for a black snake . Haven't got a single bird not even a sparrow !! Wonder why?? lol gary
susanlynne1948
10 years ago
DD, so happy to see you report on woodpeckers, too! Having just moved to a new area of West OKC, I see lots more bird species, including Red-Headed Woodpeckers. They are all over this area, and a pair have been busy building a nest next to our driveway in an old dead tree, trimmed back to about 12' high, very thick trunks. I wondered what to put out to feed them. I always heard they like suet, but I worry whether that will melt in our heat this summer. Suggestions?

We have lots of birds and still have lots of butterflies, so the birds don't make too big a dent in the BF population. We had a Black Swallowtail emerge from chrysalis 2 days ago, still have one more, plus a GST. Also had a Silver-Spotted Skipper emerge from a chrysalis on the porch - don't know where that came from, lol!

Sulphurs and CWs are abundant right now, but so far have seen no other species except for the BST and SSS that emerged from overwintering chrysalids.

Susan
Tom
10 years ago
I now have three nesting pairs of Purple Martins, I believe. I love to watch them soar. They are so graceful.

I put up a baffle on the pole that holds the house to discourage snakes. It seems to have worked.

Suffering from back problems aggravated by planting butterfly and hummingbird plants yesterday...