Inside an artificial gourd hanging from an aluminum rack, a female purple martin sits on her eggs while her mate perches in the doorway to their human-made home in Erie. Meanwhile, 35 people watch.

Franklin and Bethany Bidinger, who live near Clinton Lake, eagerly await the spring arrival of purple martins to their home, where they have dozens of painted gourd houses for the birds. The purple ...

My old aluminum purple martin house has supported generations of purple martin families — but not in the last few years. I’m not sure why the old house lost its appeal to the birds. The house was ...

Natural gourds or plastic gourds, metal house or wooden house, gourd lines, gourd poles, gourd arms, porches, predator guards, dawn song audio recordings, purple martin decoys. There’s a lot to ...

We’ve been enjoying an unusually warm winter, but that doesn’t mean anything to the purple martins. They start showing up this time of year regardless of the severity of the winter. For them, it’s ...

Every spring and summer, Karl Domeier runs his own unique kind of bed and breakfast at his Saline Township residence. In April, travelers begin to arrive and take up residence in one or two of his 48 ...

Purple martins are indigenous to Cahokia Mounds. This illustration shows how Native Americans might have housed them in gourds. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site Visitors are invited to flock to ...

Every year, bird enthusiasts hang groups of plastic gourds for purple martins to nest in Erica Royer Look up during the summer in eastern or southeastern North America, and you may spot a purple ...

In the birding world, few species generate more excitement than does the “Purple Martin,” a swallow that is arriving now in Georgia, with reports of “scouts” logged almost daily online. Purple martins ...