Purple Martins in MO?

[hillbillycowgirl]

<font color="purple">I'm new to this site, and soon to be new to Ozark region of Missouri (I move in November and am soooo excited). Anyway, I was wondering if anybody could give me some info. on Purple Martins. I know that the Amish use the little birds for pest control, and would like to do the same, if possible. However, I'm not even sure how you get them [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] ( do you lure them with feed and houses, or by nesting pairs?). Any info would be much appreciated. </font color>

[GaryM]

Welcome to Country by Net! It's a great place, as is it's companion site Tractor by Net.

I'm in Warren County Mo. myself. There are purple martin houses for sale. They house multiple sets of birds, sometimes in several levels. I do know that they like their house in a clear area rather than at the tree line. The houses are usually mounted on poles and have covers over the entry. The covers are removed in the spring just prior to the martins scheduled arrival in your area.

That's all I can say for sure. I'm certain that others will be along with more information.

When you look at the post I made, check at the upper part of the page. Web site ads may appear that are related to the subject. I'm editing this post to add this remark and saw some ads for purple martin houses at the top of the page.

[ScottAR]

There around in AR so I don't why they wouldn't be in MO too. I understand it may take awhile to attract them; like 2-3 years.

[NSbound]

I'm pretty sure they also have to be relatively close to water. and like previously said, the house should be out in the open. A favorite place to put a Martin house up here is near a dock -that way it's away from trees, near water, etc. They're sure pretty birds to have around. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[hillbillycowgirl]

[img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] <font color="purple"> Thank you for the info. given so far. Especially for the heads up on the ads at the top of the page. However, now I have another related question. What kind of martin house works best? I see all kinds of houses, from small to "Donald Trump". From basic, to all the bells and whistles. What is really needed, and what is just plain, spending money for nothing [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] ? </font color>

[GaryM]

I've also read that the good houses have a "front porch" and railing to keep the baby birds safe. I plan to put up a pole and hose myself, but will probably wait 'til Spring. But the weather's better now, so maybe I shouldn't wait.

[turnagerg]

Purple Martin Conservation Assoc.
The Purple Martin Society NA

Above are two links and you can find many more with a Google search. In the countryside across the southern states you'll often see martin houses made from gourds, which is about as cheap as you'll find. Whether you build, buy, or use gourds you'll need to be able to lower them to clean out every year I think.

[NSbound]

I went looking thorugh an old photo album and found this of a Martin house I made many years back. Making it was the easy part. Climbing the ladder with it perched on my head (it was kind of heavy) was the hard part. Friends were standing by to pick up the pieces but fortunately, it made it up OK!! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Hillbillycowgirl, This is the most salient part of one of the liinks supplied above...

* * * * *
Martins, like all swallows, are aerial insectivores. They eat only flying insects, which they catch in flight. Their diet is diverse, including dragonflies, damselflies, flies, midges, mayflies, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles, June bugs, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, bees, wasps, flying ants, and ballooning spiders. Martins are not, however, prodigious consumers of mosquitoes as is so often claimed by companies that manufacture martin housing. An intensive 7-year diet study conducted at PMCA headquarters in Edinboro, PA, failed to find a single mosquito among the 500 diet samples collected from parent martins bringing beakfuls of insects to their young. The samples were collected from martins during all hours of the day, all season long, and in numerous habitats, including mosquito-infested ones. Purple Martins and freshwater mosquitoes rarely ever cross paths. Martins are daytime feeders, and feed high in the sky; mosquitoes, on the other hand, stay low in damp places during daylight hours, or only come out at night.

* * * *

Just a few months ago I read the results of some research regarding the diet of martins and thought it ironic that the preferred food was the dragonfly which does eat mosquitos. The video of martin parents feeding their young NEVER included a mosquito. So the net result of having a resident martin population is more mosquitos. Not what the hucksters say in the adds!

I like Martins but it might be a good thing to put in some bat houses too as bats definitely do eat jillions of mosquitos and will help make up for the reduced dragonfly polulation.

Best of luck to you in attracting and keeping martins. They sure are fun to watch.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[No_Trespassing]

<font color="blue"> "as bats definitely do eat jillions of mosquitos " </font color>

From what I've read, bats don't really eat that many mosquitos. We've got quite a few Little Brown Bats around our house and I have put up a bat house. It's on a tree, not really the prime location. They haven't taken up residence in it yet. One of these days I'm going to move it to a pole in the middle of a meadow where it can get early morning sunshine.

If you could point me to research showing that bats eat a lot of mosquitos I would appreciate it. I've been trying to find evidence. I figured that would get my lazy backside out there to move that bat house! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Kevin