Many people want martins in their yards because, it’s been said, these birds eat 2,000 mosquitoes a day. While it’s true that they eat flying insects, don’t expect purple martins to eliminate mosquitoes in your yard completely. Martins prefer dragonflies, which prey on mosquito larvae. If you want to help rid your yard of mosquitoes, put up a bat roosting box. One bat can eat thousands of mosquitoes a night.

Martins are entertaining creatures, however, and you’ll enjoy watching their antics in your backyard. You have the best chance of attracting martins if you put a house 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 telephone wire nearby gives them a place to perch in sociable groups. Martins nest in groups, so you’ll need a house with a minimum of four large rooms—6 or more inches on all sides, with a 2 1/2 inch entrance hole about 11/2 inches 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, make any house more appealing. You can also make houses from gourds by fashioning an entrance hole and small holes in the bottom for 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 select a house, think about what kind of pole you’re going
to put it on. Martins occupy a house ten to twenty feet off the ground. Some poles are less cumbersome than others.

Gourd houses are the easiest to set up. String them from a wire between two poles, from a sectional aluminum pole, or on pulleys mounted to a crossbar high up on a pole. You can mount lightweight aluminum houses for martins on telescoping poles, providing easy access for maintenance and inspection. Because of their weight (more than 30 pounds), wood houses should not be mounted on telescoping poles. You’ll have to use a sturdy metal or a 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.

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