Home » Plants & Animals » Tropical Birds » Purple Martin

Purple Martin

© Glenda Gibbons

We tend to clump the name Purple Martin into one group, but actually there are three sub-species of Purple Martins. These are known as: Progne subis subis, who breeds in eastern North America and in eastern Mexico, Progne subis Hesperia, who breeds in the deserts of Arizona, western Mexico, and Baja, California, and Progne subis arboricola, who breeds along the Pacific coastal regions of the United States and Canada, and in the Rocky Mountains.

The Purple Martin is the largest of the swallows, measuring 7 ½" to 8" long. Male martins have blue-black feathers, the sun lighting and reflecting off their plumage to produce the beautiful purple color they are so famous for. Female martins are brownish in color with a pale underside.

During the non-breeding season, martins spend their winters in Brazil, beginning their migration routes in late February through June, depending upon where their breeding areas are. They are monogamous, and tend to return to the same breeding grounds, and with luck, the same nests as the previous season. In the Pacific northwest, nests are built within abandoned woodpecker nesting cavities, gourds that hang in clusters, or a colony of single nest boxes that are closely arranged. East of the Rocky Mountains, the Purple Martin relies entirely on supplied housing, usually in the form of a huge apartment birdhouse on tall poles.

Purple Martins are known as aerial insectivores. They eat while in flight, so obviously their diet consists of flying insects such as beetles, butterflies & moths, cicadas, wasps, dragonflies, etc. There is a common misconception that Purple Martins eat mosquitoes as part of their regular diet. In a seven year study of Purple Martins by the Purple Martin Conservation Association in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, the diets of parents to young show absolutely no mosquitoes. This is due to the fact that mosquitoes fly close to the ground, favor cool, damp areas during the day, and are nighttime feeders. Martins fly higher than mosquitoes, and are most certainly daytime feeders. If there is a period of cold or rainy weather for a few days, the birds can starve.

The migration route of the Purple Martin begins in its South American winter home. The birds that stay in the southern United States usually arrive in late January, while in the northern areas, arrival can be anywhere from late January to late June. Yearlings return to their home nest area to begin a new colony, while parent birds head back to their old nesting place, which hopefully is still available. Competition from starlings, sparrows, or other species of swallows can sometimes send the migrant bird searching for a new home.

Purple Martin

The copyright of the article Purple Martin in Tropical Birds is owned by Glenda Gibbons. Permission to republish Purple Martin in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.