Purple martins in Georgia
One popular bird that many people like to attract to their property is the purple martin. For many decades it was common to see boxes, gourds or other house options on poles in order for property owners to attract purple martins. In fact, we have purple martin housing at the Gordon County Agricultural Service Center.
The attracting of purple martins to a property may not be as popular as in years past, but there is an increase due to the potential of these birds to assist in non chemical insect control. Our information states that according to the Purple Martin Conservation Association there are more than one million people that have martin houses on the property. Today, I will be sharing information from a UGA publication by Michael Mengak, UGA Wildlife Specialist.
For starters, the purple martin is not a bird species that will stay year-round in Georgia. This bird will spend the winters south in South America. Purple Martins will make the trip to our area of the state around the middle part of February and will depart again in the fall. Keep in mind that old martins normally will return to old nesting sites while the young birds will seek new nesting areas. The rule of thumb is once a house is used, it will continue to be used. A new house will end up used by first year purple martins looking for a place to nest.
One thing that Mengak pointed out that is that legend states the first martins that arrive are scouts that are making sure the property is safe. Mengak states this is not true. The first birds are actually the older birds and the younger martins will soon follow. Another fact for our area is that purple martins depend heavily on human supplied housing for nesting.
The purple martin are monogamous for the breeding season. The female will lay 3 to 8 white eggs and the incubation period will last from 15 to 18 days. The nest is made from twigs, weeds, leaves and coarse grass for example. Both parents will care for the hatched birds. The baby birds will stay in the nest up to four weeks. When they leave the nest, the babies will return to the area for up to 10 days before final departure. Another cool fact is that purple martins feed and drink only while in flight. Purple martins will eat a variety of insects so this note may be where the popularity for insect control starts.
Purple martins will eat dragonflies, midges, mayflies, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, June bugs, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, wasps and flying ants to name a few. Note that mosquitoes are not on the list. This year could be a tougher year for mosquitoes if we experience much wet weather, but don’t count on purple martins to help reduce the mosquito population. Since purple martins depend on housing from humans, you need to spend some time in this area.
The most noticeable are the hanging gourds or the martin apartment house systems. In the past, it was common to see a number of naturally grown gourds hanging on a pole with cross arms. You can still do this, but it is hard to find grown gourds. Plastic gourds may have to be used. You could also clustered jugs or even man-made houses. Again, the apartment house options are common.
You can purchase them in wooden or aluminum housing from stores or make your own. I will not go into detail if you want to make your own purple martin apartment housing, but I can send you the directions by email from our UGA resource. Where you place the purple martin housing is important. The birds prefer the houses to be place in open areas. Do not put a purple house closer than 40 feet from a tree or 30 feet from a structure.
Keep in mind this bird species like to nest together thus why the cluster of gourds or apartment systems work well. Mengak states that widely scattered houses built for solitary pairs of birds are normally not successful. Placing houses near open water will work. Also, it is noted that since martins like to socialize on telephone or electrical wires, putting their houses near utility lines is good.
Placing the housing in open areas will also help purple martins catch insects while in flight. Do not place martin houses near honey bees because the purple martins will consume these valuable pollinators. Prior to putting up the houses, place a pinch of sulfur dust in each nesting compartment according to Mengak. This will help control mites.
You will put houses on poles 15-30 feet tall. The lower the vegetation in the area, the lower the poles can be. Ideally, you will make the pole where it can be taken down for cleaning in the fall and for winter storage. If the houses will stay up year round, you still need to clean out the compartments safely with a ladder and a wire hook to clean out the material. You need to also plug entry holes to keep other bird species out while purple martins are gone.