Part 4: Birds You Can Attract to Your Bird Houses and Nest Boxes

This is a continuing series on attracting birds to your yard.

Purple Martins

Many people want martins because, it's been said, these birds "can eat 2,000 mosquitoes a day." While it's true that they eat flying insects, don't expect purple martins to wipe out your mosquitoes. Martins actually prefer dragonflies, these insects prey on mosquito larvae. 

Mosquitoes are most active after sunset. If you want to rid your yard of mosquitoes, put up a bat roosting box.  One bat can eat thousands of mosquitoes a night.  But don't cross martins off your prospective tenant list because they don't live up to their "bug zapping" reputation. If you need a reason for attracting them, these gregarious swallows put on a show that's better than any television soap opera. 

You have the best chance of attracting martins if you put a birdhouse on the edge of a pond or river, surrounded by a field or lawn. Martins need a radius of about 40 feet of unobstructed flying space around their houses. A convenient fence or telephone wire nearby gives them a place to perch in sociable groups. 

Martins nest in groups, so you'll need a bird condo with a minimum of four large rooms -- 6 or more inches on all sides, with a 2-1/4 inch entrance hole about an inch and a half above the floor. Ventilation and drainage are critical factors in martin house design. Porches, railings, porch dividers and supplemental roof perches, like a TV antenna, will make any bird house more appealing. 

Gourds may also be made into houses by making an entrance hole and providing drainage. If you use gourds, it's not necessary to add railings and perches. Adult martins will perch on the wire used to hang the houses. 

Before you decide on a house, take the time to think about what kind of pole you're going to put it on. Martins will occupy a house that's between ten and twenty feet off the ground. Some poles are less cumbersome than others. 

Gourd houses are the easiest to set up. You can string them:

• from a wire between two poles
• from a sectional aluminum pole
• on pulleys mounted to cross-bar high up on a pole.  

Light-weight aluminum birdhouses can be mounted on telescoping poles, providing easy access for maintenance and inspection. Because of their weight (well over 30 pounds), wooden birdhouses cannot be mounted on easy-access telescoping poles. You'll have to use a sturdy metal or wood pole attached to a pivot post. The problem with this "lowering" technique is that you can't tilt the house without damaging the nests inside. If you put your house on a shorter, fixed pole, ten to twelve feet high, you can use a ladder to inspect and maintain it. 

Please check out the vast array of bird houses at www.aboutbirdhouses.com.