Attached is a good fact sheet from a purple martin conservation organization. The section on competition addresses your question specifically, but the whole article in very interesting. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here for Fact Sheet

Terrene, The ancient martins of the past once nested in hollow tree snags,old woodpecker holes,etc and some including myself think they mave have used rocky outcroppings,cliffsides,and river banks very similar to how the Rough Winged Swallow,Barn,and the Cliff Swallow nests today. To me this would explain their use of mud in their nests. There would be no need for mud in a deep woodpecker cavity or tree hollow but maybe the ancient martins used mud to seal off a rock crevice or something similar?? All fun questions to think about and wonder. The native American Indians of the south first started attracting martins by using gourds. Most likely it happened by accident as the Indians hung the gourds to dry. Well maybe the mice(that love to eat gourd seeds)got into them as they hung there in the winter drying. They ate a hole in the gourd and in the spring the martins took them. After the Indians noticed this they liked the martins and then started purposely hanging the gourds for them? Again fun questions to think about. When the white man settled in this country they began to build wooden houses for martins along with adopting the Indians practice of hanging gourds and then the stage was set for making the Purple Martin so dependant on man for housing as they are today. I think that in ancient days of this country when the great forests once dominated that the martins were not as common as they are today with the increased open area and that is most likely true. However the greatest threat to martins now is their need for man made housing and of course their number one enemies the Starlings and the House Sparrows. When these two birds came on the scene they slowly began to push out the martins wherever they became common. Gone were the days of simply putting up a martin house with 2 inch round holes in it and forgetting about it. Same with the Bluebirds and if it were not for the 1 and 1\2 inch entrance hole in BB Boxes the Eastern Bluebird would not be near as common as they are now. The 1 and 1\2 hole stopped the starlings and then they only had the House Sparrows to deal with. Fortunately for the Purple Martin there are now SREH(Starling Resistent Entrance Holes)and they have helped martins everywhere now not have to deal with starlings and wherever this is happening the martins are doing great. My site is nearly 100% clinger SREH now and it is such a sitisfying feeling knowing the martins are protected from those nest stealing,murdering starlings. Martins can deal with the sparrows to a point but not starlings and having the SREH is the only way to go these days if you seek a martin colony. I have been a martin landlord since I was 11 years old Terrene and all. I never tire of watching them and they are such a great part of summertime in this country. They are as American as baseball,apple pie,your Grandma's country biscuits,etc..smile..Thanks to all people who now use the SREH and trap and control the House Sparrows at their martin colonies. It simply helps the martins bigtime and so many other native songbirds continue to exist and live free and un harrassed in their own country. Man has in a way changed the nesting habits of the martins and this one question is always in my mind when I watch them. What would happen if all of a sudden man stopped supplying them housing?? Would their ancient instincts kick back in and send them back to cliffs,riverbanks,hollows,etc??? That is a lot to ponder right there I know that...Mike

Hi! I think you're right about the trees. They definitely don't like any obstructions around their home, but do prefer to nest close buildings, like your home (no more than 20 ft. I hear). The only place I've really been able to observe them is at the botanical gardens. They love to nest at the conservatory, but the Director there constantly knocks them down. Sad! There's also a martin house behind the Carriage House. I donÂt know what kind of success theyÂve had with that, though.

Hi Socks, there was a Tree Swallow swooping all around the yard, and gourds. They normally arrive here two-three weeks after the Purple Martins I keep most of the gourds closed off with duct tape until all the martins have arrived. This forces the very territorial TSs to take over their own nest box, which is 35 feet from the PM pole. Once a pair of TSs claim the nest box, they will not bother the martins at all, plus they will keep all other Tree Swallows out of the yard, ensuring my 15 gourds are occupied by the Purple Martins. If one pair of TSs were to decide to nest in one of the PM gourds, they would fight off every PM, and TS, that tried to nest on the pole. I can't allow one pair of TS to control 15 gourds! LOL Here's a link to a rather clumsily written, but very informative article on Tree Swallow/Blue Bird/Purple Martin protocol so you can have all three species successfully nesting in one area and each one benefiting the others. Here's one of my happy little tree swallows in a box about 30' from the PMs. There's a link to the protocol below the photo. Here is a link that might be useful: Peace between TSs, BBs and PMx