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 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

Marilyn C. I hope so, too. They would not have any chance with the hen dead. This way there is at least some hope. Lisa - They lay one egg a day, usually before noon, until they have their clutch complete. It can be anywhere between four and eight eggs. On the day this hen was injured (many will die after being attacked by so many males) she had just laid her second egg. I check the nests daily and keep a log of the number of eggs. Incubation usually begins when the next-to-last egg is laid. By noticeing when the last egg is laid, but keeping the written record, I can estimate the hatching and fledging dates. Lily316 - Tree encroachment is one of the top reasons people either fail to attract martins, or lose their colony. One neighbor across the street had to take down a huge, dying tree, an elm of some sort. The canapy of the tree was twice as big as their house! I did like the tree, but I was also happy to see it fall. It opened up a third flyway for my guys. The city makes home owners remove any dead trees, or trees that are so far gone they know they won't recover.

Leslie...I use either aspen or red cedar shavings. Either is fine. These are the big shavings, not the "sawdust." I buy the big bags at Tractor Supply. What's left over at the end of the season is used to change out one of Harry's seldom-used puppy pillows. Some people use pine needles, just rake them up in the fall and save them. Make sure they're really dry before you put them in the gourd. Some folks use chopped straw. Sue...I prefer to use gourds, either natural gourds that I've modified, or Super Gourds from the PMCA. If you're interested, I can email you all sorts of info on them. Gourds provide much safer housing for martins. They're safer from preditors, wet weather; and far easier to maintain than the houses. Also, there's much more room for the two rather large adult martins and 6-8 of their chicks. This SuperGourd has a reinforced hanging tube so rainwater can't drip inside from the hanging wire. The lid to the right is the access port. I take the photos through here. There's a PVC elbow added to the back of the gourd for additional ventilation and I enlarge the seven drainage holes on the bottom. I number each gourd so I can keep accurate records which are then sent to the PMCA to be included with all the other landlords' data. There's an incubating female peeking out of this gourd. This is a tricked-out SuperGourd. I added a porched double-wide tunnel the front. The pairs of martins love to sit on their front porch, and it makes it almost impossible for owls or hawks to pull out the chicks. The male is on the right.