Martin House

Members of the swallow family like to nest around people, but Purple Martins take things to the next level. They are communal nesters and. the great majority of them, in the Eastern US at least, rely on human-built 'condominiums' such as this one. Before Europeans arrived in the Americas, native people would hang up hollowed gourds for them (maybe they still do) - that's what the lower hanging structures are designed to imitate. Martins eat a lot of insects, but they are lovely birds and really just nice to have around. 

Purple Martins are not really purple - how many birds are? - but the males an shiny dark blue. The females are browner. They are very chatty, making all kinds of sounds but the typical call is a kind of throaty wolf whistle. They are coming to the end of their breeding season now and venturing further afield. There were some foraging high above our house yesterday.

I'll put an actual bird in the extras.