I have been watching for ours. I hope they wait another week. I still have the doors shut on their summer home.
mo

Oooh, I'm jealous. Mine aren't back yet, even though people in the area have been reporting them for weeks. Mine always seem to come Mid-March, during spring break.

I guess that's actually OK because there have been several years that cold snaps hit before they came back and I was spared having to worry about them.

Teri

Wow thats great!

How you attract Purple Martins to backyard? I would like buy martin nest/colony? any suggestions? -Chandra

Mine aren't back yet. I don't really expect them here for a couple of more weeks. That is fine with me. Won't have to worry about the cold as much. I made some improvements to my site. The birds should be happy.

You need an open space to attract them. Also, I would say a little luck is involved. I got lucky and got birds the first year. My biggest suggestion would be to spend money on the strongest pole you can afford and use some type of housing with starling resistant openings unless you have plenty of time to battle the starlings. I don't. I use gourds and the birds love them. Good luck.

Oh Dawn, I'm so glad to hear your martins are here! I'm anxiously awaiting their return. Purple martins always put a smile on my face.

Chandra, If you have a Tractor Supply nearby, you might check there for houses/gourds/poles etc. I got eight Purple Martin gourd birdhouses this week on clearance for $15. What a steal! They are normally $50.

You want your martin houses in an open area. If you have a small back yard with lots of trees, it's unlikely you will be able to attract them, even with a martin house. Don't locate the martin house within 30 - 50 ft of your house or trees. The more open space around the house, the better your chances. If you have room for them, they will come!

I've had nearly every type martin house made. :) I like the S&K 12 hole houses but despise the 16 hole houses. I've lost four of them in high winds. The 12 hole houses stand up much better to our strong winds. I also like the rectangular aluminum houses that all holes on the same level flip up at the same time. They're much easier to clean than the houses that you have to clean one nest at a time. I also don't like octagon or hexagon houses because they're harder to clean. I may regret buying these gourd houses when I have to clean them. :)

Dawna

Thank you Dawna and quailhunter,
Our back is pretty open, no trees in our neighborhood. Its very new, all trees are along the front driveway which are just 5-10 feet high. I am going to visit tractor supply company and check my luck as well. -Chandra

For anyone interested in attracting martins, I would recommend reading the forum and all the archived articles from the Purple Martin Conservation Assoociation (PMCA) www.purplemartin.org.

There is also a group at www.purplemartinresearch.com who work in figuring out better entrances to keep starlings out of martin houses and there are several very experienced landlords in OK in that group that would LOVE to mentor a newbie!

Teri

PS The advice to buy the best pole you can afford is excellent advice esp. in Texas and OK.

PSS And oh yeah, I had a big beautiful male return tonight and zip into one of my gourds, like "Boy I'm glad to be home!"

Thank you Teri for those links, I have been reading lot of interesting facts about the PMs. Building nice homes for the PMs is my net project. -Chandra

every year I ask 4 houses. i grow gourds,but no pole

Dawna, As close as your county is to mine, you should have martins soon. I'm seeing more and more every day here!

I second the suggestion for everyone to buy a good sturdy pole. We have the triangular, telescoping ones and they have withstood winds just over 70 mph.

Dawn

Is it too late this year to put up a purple martin house (it is June 8, 2011)????

If it is too late, when should I put up the house?

Thank you

It wouldn't hurt to put it up now, but you'd be putting it up more for PR than to actually attract purple martins. Still, you never know. The Purple Martin Conservation Association says purple martins can migrate back as late as June, although I've never had new ones arrive here that late in the year.

By PR, I mean that the local Purple Martins might notice it and remember it is there when they come back next year. Or, if something happens to a purple martin home at a house near you....like it is destroyed by a hail storm or high wind, the birds might move to your house soon thereafter.

The Purple Martins migrate back to Oklahoma in the late winter and early spring. The ones at our house usually show up about the third week in February, and I am in Love County down by the Texas border. They generally raise a clutch of nestlings before it gets too terribly hot. The birds prefer for their homes to be out in open areas, which means they are unshaded, and the birds abandon the homes when the really hot weather arrives and live in the woods. However, they often come back and sit on the rooftops and perches on the martin houses in the early mornings and evenings while swooping around feeding on flying insects. Sometimes the juvenile birds come to sleep in the houses at night even after they've fledged and left the nest, but they spend the days in the cooler woodland area.

I've linked the website of the Purple Martin Conservation Association below for you. They go into great detail about how to place your housing in the best way so it will be attractive to purple martins. Once you attract purple martins, they show a high degree of "loyalty" to the house and will return to it year after year.

Some people have trouble attracting purple martins, but we had some show up less than a month after we originally put up our house about a decade ago, and then had to add a second house 3 or 4 years later. They really like to be around people and often come sit on the electric line and sit and watch me work when I'm in the garden.

Good luck attracting purple martins!

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: PMCA Website