I now have 16 adult Purple Martins in my martin house and gourds here on the
mountain. In the attached photo you can see 13 of them. In the house and
gourds are 29 nestlings. The males are the darker blue ones with the females
looking more brown with white speckled breasts and bellies. These are very
social birds. They are constantly chattering to one another. They are also
protective of their nest site. If most of the birds are high in the sky it
only takes one call from a bird near the house site to bring the whole flock
down within seconds to chase away a hawk or other predator. Now that they
have young even I am liable to be swooped on. The male birds will fly within
inches of my ear, letting out a screech just as they zoom past. It is
disconcerting if I am caught off guard. I can see how it would be effective
on a cat, fox, raccoon, etc.
Look at the second photo of the female with a mouthful of insects. It looks
like she has a beak full of flying ants. If they bring this many insects
back for one feeding, imagine how many insects they catch in a day, or a
week.
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
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