Purple Martin (Progne subis)

Click to Enlarge First arrival dates of “pioneer” martins

General Range and Washington Distribution
Purple martins breed locally from southern Canada to central Mexico and Winter in South America. In Washington, they typically breed near the waters around the Puget Sound, along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the southern Pacific coastline, and near the Columbia River.

Natural History
Purple martins are large insect-eating, colonial nesting swallows that nest in a variety of cavities. Although martins once primarily used old woodpecker holes and other natural cavities, most martins in Washington and the Pacific Northwest have been reported nesting in artificial structures. The western subspecies of the purple martin found in the Pacific Northwest prefer to nest in separate nest structures adjacent to each other rather than the apartment-style nest-boxes used by their eastern counter part. Purple martins most commonly feed in flight on insects. Favorable martin foraging habitat includes open areas, often located near moist to wet sites, where flying insects are abundant. History of the purple martin.

Click to Enlarge Martin pair in typical nesting structure

The removal of dead and dying trees has reduced the number of natural cavities and is a contributing factor to the decline of the purple martin as well as competition for nesting cavities with more aggressive species such as European starlings and house sparrows.

In Washington the purple martin is a State Candidate species. This species has a high public profile and are vulnerable to population fluctuations due to a limited distribution and loss of suitable natural nesting cavities (Brown 1997).

Habitat Requirements

Things You Can Do To Help Purple Martins