The Native Americans first started colonizing these birds to help protect their crops.  They discovered Purple Martins were an excellent pestacide!  They use to hang hollowed out gourds in the trees near the crops, and the Purple Martins significantly reduced the amount of insects near the crops.  As an added benefit, the mating martins would chase away predators predators such as crows that had a damaging effect on crops as well.  Did you know that Martins in the Eastern United States are entirely dependant on man made martin bird houses?

The martin bird house started out as hollowed out gourds and now they come in all shapes and sizes.  They live in apartment style houses or closely grouped single family homes. Martin bird houses can be made from a number of different materials, such as gourds, wood, metal, plastic and even Styrofoam.  Most commonly in suburbia you will see the apartment style of one martin bird house with lots of holes and separate internal compartments.

Purple Martins can require a lot of work.  You will be a pet owner for the months that they are nesting.  In order to have a colony successfully nesting you will have to monitor the house, so no predator, such as the European Starling and House Sparrow, nest in the martin bird house before the martins do.  Once the colony has moved out it is time to clean house.  Clean the nests out and blockade the openings until next season.  But they are dependant on you to provide them with housing!

Though a martin bird house can be a lot of work, you will notice that the entertainment you get from these fun creatures well outweigh the maintenance.  These amazing wild birds will clean your yards of pests and provide you with a source of entertainment in return for your house cleaning!

Suggested Reading:

• 4 Musts to Consider For Your Purple Martin Bird House – Another consideration of the purple martin bird house you purchase is to make sure that inside the individual unit, there is at least 7 inches of space. Purple Martins can grow relatively large and need this extra space for free …