Progne subis, Purple
Martin
The Purple martin is
the largest
swallow in the United States.
Their aerial antics are a delight to watch.
The family group while raising their young is
a great pleasure to observe.
The singing
and chatter can become loud in groups and is enjoyable to hear.
The color is an iridescent blue-black.
Martins, like all
swallows, are
aerial insectivores.
They eat only flying insects, which they catch in
flight.
Their diet is diverse, including
dragonflies, damselflies, flies,
midges,
mayflies, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, Japanese beetles,
June bugs,
butterflies,
moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, bees, wasps, flying ants, and ballooning
spiders.
The custom of erecting
a martin
house to attract these beneficial birds was practiced by the
early
settlers
and, before them, by the southern Indian tribes, who hung
clusters of
hollow
gourds on their lodge poles.
The
site of this cache
has all the
requirements of a good martin nesting site:
open airspace for flying, high wire lines for preening,
and good
water
source for insects, bathing and drinking.
They even like close human contact.
BYOP...HAPPY CACHING