Purple Martins

[theantiquetiger]

They returned a couple months ago

martins2 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[Hillbillygirl]

Beautiful avians.

[Iguanasan]

Woah! Now that's some awesome colour. Would love to see a side profile shot some time. Very cool.

[christopher steven b.]

Cool. Why do they have such different coloring ? These are male and female, perhaps ?

[JAS_Photo]

They really are purple! Do people build and put out bird houses for them?

[theantiquetiger]

The purple one is the male. They live in human made houses like this one. They are a type of sparrow but fly like hawks. They are very aero acrobats.

[Mike Bons]

Nice shot AT!!

They really are purple! Do people build and put out bird houses for them?

I just finished researching purple martin bird houses, and as with many other native birds (such as bluebirds, tree swallows, etc) they have a particular landscape they like and a particular house, etc. As well, making these houses resistant to invasive species such as house sparrows and starlings is very important. Its amazing how much building the exact house, put at the exact height, facing the exact direction really increases your chance of attracting your target species.