A SINGLE PURPLE MARTIN ZIPPING AND DARTING in aerial pursuit across the summer sky can reportedly devour a beneficial amount of mosquitoes per day.

With such prowess it is easy to understand why people are eager to attract martins to their neighborhood.

People have welcomed martins to their homes for centuries. Before the first European settlers arrived, Native Americans were hanging hollowed-out calabash gourds around their encampments and villages to attract martins. Newly arrived Americans watched, learned and adopted the practice.
Purple Martin’s reputation as a desirable neighbor continued to grow.

The May 1890 issue of Birds and All Nature magazine – note: $1.50 for an annual subscription – said, “No bird in America is more deserving of protection and of encouragement to live about the habitations of man than the Purple Martin.

One pair of them will destroy more insects in a season than all the English sparrows in a township will kill in their lifetime.”

Purple Martins and humans have developed a mutual dependency. People want martins around to eliminate pests.

Martins like being around human activity and nest almost exclusively in the houses people erect to attract them. In fact, ornithologists believe that in some areas, such as the eastern United States, martins may be almost totally dependent on humans.

Their bills are not suited to excavating a nesting cavity and their non-aggressive personality makes it difficult for them to compete with other species for the few natural cavities available. Without the housing provided by humans, martins might not survive.

Fortunately people continue to want to attract martins. The Purple Martin Conservation Association estimates that about 1 million people maintain martin housing.