how I got started

raising purple martins

REPORT when you see Martins and follow the migration

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Congratulations on a job well done Kyle

PMC is privileged to share Kyle's PDF report on "Becoming a better person in the community". Kyle works hard to develop his leadership skills and is a great asset to his community. By building his second Martin house and helping the Martins, he hopes to make the world a better place.

another beautiful house

Very nice, thanks for the pictures- Maurice C., Canada

beautiful house, well done

Another great T-14 ready to go up. I bought the plans from you a couple of years ago and finally got around to building it. Quite a project, thank you. This should last for many, many years. I timed it perfect. As I was cranking up the house I saw the first scout circling overhead.

- Allen, Ocoee, Florida

It started as an adventure one Saturday afternoon while mowing the lawn. Normally several birds would be flying about and from time to time *swoop* by like they were playing or halfway on the brink of bombing me. It puzzled me but over the years I became amused at this behavior and figured out that all the birds were up to, was feeding off the bugs I was stirring up with the lawn mower.

This spring (2000) the birds weren't around for some reason and it made me curious. I thought it might have been coz their birdhouse had been damaged from a hailstorm several years ago or maybe the dry weather.

Hail storm damage and old age

Hail storm damage and old age. The birds were gone! Where were they? Was it because of the ill repair of their house? Heck, I wasn't even sure if it was their birdhouse in the first place and on top of that, I didn't know if they were purple martins. Clueless, other than I new something was amiss. I had become aware of *purple martins* in some way that I cannot remember and had a suspicion that what was *swooping* me were martins. I proceeded to look them up on the net to find out what may have happened to the little creatures. The first thing to do was to fix the old birdhouse. No, it was to check to see what kind of birds I had or at least figure out what I was use to having around.

There I discovered information on many aspects of the purple martin that led me to believe I could get them back. Enough information to make me set out on the task of fixing the *old martin house*. After cleaning out all the old nests (sparrows), I installed a ceiling and replaced the old broken roof. Up to snuff and ready to receive the martins I thought. It was a big attraction to birds all right!

After doing more research and studying my situation, I concluded that I never had martins but plenty of sparrows and tree swallows!

Years of sparrow nests had to be removed

Years of sparrow nests had to be removed. The swallows made themselves right at home in the newly remodeled house and the tree swallows returned to the area and began *swooping* me as usual. I discovered that I never did have purple martins! What was I to do now? After all the work and the unearthing of what a purple martin was it only made sense to me, to keep moving forward with all the fun I was having.

So, the adventure began that quickly, one Saturday afternoon when I decided to mow the lawn...

The old bird house after repairs and totally useless. Read why