Martin House

[toughguy]

I would like to build a birdhouse for purple martins and I have a few questions. I live in southern Dakota county. Is this Martin territory if I were to put one up? The area is made up of small ponds and farm fields with a few farm groves around. I have a drainage pond in the backyard and there are plenty of insects around it for them to eat. There are birds that fly around it at night feeding on insects but I’m not sure if they are martins. I realize it's probably too late for this year but I hope to have some nesters next spring. Also, once the house is up is there any maintenance that should be done to keep them coming back and/or to keep other birds out?

Thanks for the help.

[BLACKJACK]

There are purple matins throughout the Twin Cities and central MN, so you are in an area where you can possibly attract martins. The closer to a lake and established colony, the better. The best advice I can give you is goto to the Purple Martin Conservation Associciation HSOforum - www dot purplemartin dot org. They have tips, advice, requirements, a forum where you can find info.

Briefly you need to place your martin house in an open location away from trees (attacking hawks), the compartments need to be large, at least 6x6x12 (security), the house needs to be able to be moved up and down the pole (not at 'tipover' pole!!) so you can check on the martins and trap sparrows and starlings. S&S are non-native so they can be caught and killed at anytime. You will find that they will be your biggest challenge and nightmare when trying to attract martins. You see lots of 'martin houses' sitting in yards, but how many actually have martins? Do your research up front in order to give yourself a chance to attract martins. They even have tapes of martins that you can play to help attract martins. Don't laugh, it works. I had been trying to attract martins for three years, then started following the advice on that web site and went from one pair of martins up to my current 41 pair.

Good luck. Post back if you need more advice. I've barely scratched the surface on things you can do to attract martins.

[Steve Foss]

Martins drink on the fly, so they need open water. That's the reason the houses do best near water. Your drainage pond could be just fine for that.

And if you have power or cable TV or telephone lines nearby, put the house in their vicinity if it's not too close to trees. They like to perch on the wires.

I've seen martin houses that were built right and to specs and never had anything but house sparrows in them until they were moved close to wires and water. Then, presto!

House sparrows were the biggest nuisance at my grandparents' martin house in SW Wisconsin. My grandmother (last name Martin, incidentally), used to put glass coke bottles (with the bottom sticking out the hole) in the holes after the martins left for the fall. That kept the sparrows, which stay year-round, from adopting the house. Because martins come back at pretty much the same time each year, she would pull the bottles a few days before that and, since the sparrows already had put their nests somewhere else in the barns or outbuildings, the house stayed open for the few days and was ready for the martins.