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Weird.

I've been talking about it for years, but I finally put up my first martin house about 4 weeks ago. So far I have had only one sighting and it is unconfirmed. Could have been a swallow. The neighboring bluebirds perched on top of the house for a day or two after I put it up, but I haven't seen a bird of any sort even near it since.

You'll probably get young birds in April or May. The older birds go back to where they nested last year.

Interesting! Thanks.

Wingman wrote:You'll probably get young birds in April or May. The older birds go back to where they nested last year.

+1, so don't get discouraged if you don't get any this year. It may take a couple years for a new house to get populated. You can tell the difference between a swallow and a purple martin. Purple Martins are also vocal, so that is another indicator over a swallow.

MudHog wrote:

Wingman wrote:You'll probably get young birds in April or May. The older birds go back to where they nested last year.

+1, so don't get discouraged if you don't get any this year. It may take a couple years for a new house to get populated. You can tell the difference between a swallow and a purple martin. Purple Martins are also vocal, so that is another indicator over a swallow.

It's been a long time since I've seen a martin and the one sighting I had was at about 100 yds. Just looked like a dark bodied bird circling the house. We have lots of swallows close by that nest under some bridges so I suspect it was one of them. Thinking of putting my spotting scope on my camera tripod my office window so I can actually see something.

If you want to feed them, they like dried mealworms. Put them in a platform feeder. Bluebirds like dried mealworms too.

The tree might be your problem,I'v had move 1 of my houses before because of this.I'v had birds for several week's now.

4/19/14 was my first Martins!!!!!!!! NEVER has been this late. I need to try and get pictures as I think I have sub-Adult males. I have six total birds and two are dark easy to identify males.