How Many Purple Martin Bird Houses Do I Need?

Purple martins are a beautiful and famous breed of North American swallow. Their sensitive form and majestic flight silhouette have made them a longstanding favourite among birders of all ages, however the dating isn’t strictly one manner. On the contrary, because of their many natural predators, red martins have grown depending on man for their housing wishes, and hen fanatics are generally satisfied to oblige.

If you’re interested in attracting beautiful red martins in your backyard, a purple martin bird house is a remarkable investment. Here are seven things you could do to make the most of your red martin hen looking hobby.

1. Buy a residence designed in particular for red martins

When you pay attention the word “birdhouse,” you probable think of the unmarried-holed mini residence you built in scouts or at camp. While that kind of residence is best for birds like finches, it’s never what red martins are searching out. Purple martins choose to nest in colonies, so an amazing purple martin birdhouse can have at the least six flats. More than six is quality, even though fewer will be much less attractive to these birds.

2. Pick a white residence

Birdhouses for pink martins are typically white, as that’s the coloration that the birds prefer. It’s now not that they’re aesthetically picky — at the contrary, it’s that they know that a white birdhouse approach that the sunlight could be contemplated in preference to absorbed.

And that the residence can be much less warm and extra comfortable. If you’re a creative kind who is tempted to paint your new white red martin birdhouse, withstand that urge! The like white. A little bit of color on the roof or trim (often from building substances) is OK, but the residence ought to be predominantly white.

3. Install it in an open spot

Purple martins choose to be in open areas with nothing obstructing their flight paths. Therefore, you’ll need to discover an open spot that’s at the least forty away from both human dwellings and trees to put up your purple martin residence. Installing it too near your property or in a greater wooded region likely gained’t appeal to as many birds as you’d like.

4. Put your own home up excessive

Like maximum other birds, red martins are most secure when they’re within the air. This continues them a safe distance from their earthbound predators, along with raccoons, cats, and mainly snakes, all of that may decimate your purple martin colony in the event that they have easy get entry to to it. To avoid an avian bloodbath, deploy your red martin residence 12 to 18 toes off the floor on a sturdy pole.

5. Make sure the house gained’t twist or spin

The orientation of the birdhouse entrance is vital to red martins. To be specific, they prefer consistency. So, putting a pink martin residence on a pole wherein it may spin, twist, or sway can motive birds to end up pressured.

Read Also: What Does It Mean When A Bird Keeps Flying In Your House?

Eventually, they’re probable to desert the sort of living. To be as hospitable as viable to those winged beauties, install your house with a hard and fast orientation. The precise information is that red martins aren’t choosy in terms of route; north, south, east, and west are all first-rate, as lengthy as it’s consistent.

6. Wait some weeks earlier than placing up a new residence

While it can seem like common sense to have a brand new red martin birdhouse up and prepared to your avian friends before they go back from their winter migration, it’s without a doubt best to attend about four weeks after the first pink martins arrive to place it up.

This is because the returning birds might be the older members of the colony, and they’ll return to whatever house they used the preceding 12 months. In a few weeks, the younger men will go back and look to set up a nest for the primary time; those are the birds you need to draw.

Also, by way of ready some weeks, you’re more likely to hold out starlings, which are a number of the purple martin’s biggest threats. Once you’ve established your own home as a welcome colony, the birds are in all likelihood to go back yr after 12 months.

7. Use a predator defend

Purple martins have herbal predators each on land and inside the air, so it’s wise to put up a guard at the bottom of your pole and a baffle around the residence itself. The former will deter snakes, which can be infamous for mountain climbing up unguarded poles to get to purple martin homes, at the same time as the latter will hold away owls and other huge birds.

Consider these a bit coverage policy for your beloved birds. It’s not a given that predators will attack if there aren’t any guards on your home, however installing them facilitates to make certain the safety of the pink martins you’re housing.