Calhoun County Museum
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Purple Martin
The Purple Martin America's Most Wanted Bird
The Purple Martin is the largest member of the swallow family. Other birds resemble and are mistaken for the martin, most often, the starling, Grackle, King Bird and chimney swift. Knowing the characteristict and indentification marks of the martin it will rarely be confused with any other black bird.
The purple martin is 7 1/2 to 8 inches long, the tail is forked, the wings long, crossing over the tail when the bird is perching. The plumage of the male is uniformly a dark steel blue or metalic purple. The female and young males have a duller color with greyish sides and throats and are difficult to distinguish from each other. The young male does however have higher head feathers of a darker hue.
A good indentification is the flight of the martin, which in soaring and undulating with a minimum flapping - the old saying "straight as a martin for a gourd" is truly a good description.
The call or song is unmistakable. One, two, or three syllables, in thirds and fifths plus and occasional beautiful trill. Though the call of one or two birds is not impressive, it becomes a veritable symphony when many birds are gathered together.
The martins spend the winter in Brazil. They begin to arrive in this country as early as late December in Fla. and move further north, up the Eastern States, to Canada with the coming of spring. Arrival Dates in South Carolina begins in late February and continues through April and May.
They nest in colonies, as do others of the swallow family. They lay four to six eggs and raise only one brood a year. Nesting begins in late April and May. Laying takes place in late May and June.
Entirely insectivorous the food consists of only flying insects. This feature is invaluable to mankind. It was the Indians who first recognized this value and originated the use of gourds hung in groups as protection from insects in their campgrounds.
The first colonist to America used gourds also, but soon began to elaborate on the idea and started the building of colony houses. Every farm yard and cabin had its gourds or martin houses for these friends soon recognized the value of the martin two fold.
The martins being tenacious during their nesting season, allow no predators near their nests, and become protection for the farmer's foul yard, and vegetable garden.
Housing for the martins became more and more elaborate and to the present time the gamut in house style and material has run from the lowly gourd to the aluminum castle.
Martins keep their premises clean, never using trashy material and always removes all objectionable material from the nest, dropping it into nearby woods or lakes.
The climax of the martin season begins the latter part of July. The birds begin sleeping away from their nest at night and gathering into colonies. Groups begin to emerge. Finally the assemblies select a departure date and place and in one enormous group they leave for their winter home.
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