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The custom of erecting a martin house to attract these beneficial birds was practiced by the early settlers and, before them, by the southern Indian tribes, who hung clusters of hollow gourds in trees near their gardens. In other areas, the species nested in tall dead trees riddled with woodpecker holes, but these original colonies never reached the size -- as many as 200 pairs -- of colonies found in large martin houses today. In the West, it tends not to occupy martin houses, preferring the open countryside or downtown areas, and is becoming scarcer, probably due to competition with European Starlings for nest sites.

Birds Tell Us About Migration

Purple Martin

Hemispheric weekly distribution data from eBird at the Cornell Lab. Seasonal ranges derived from eBird and data from BirdLife International and Audubon. Learn more

Species Migrations

Hemispheric weekly distribution data from eBird at the Cornell Lab. Seasonal ranges derived from eBird and data from BirdLife International and Audubon.