I found the purple martins at the end of the nesting season last year. The babies had already grown up and were flying. I checked on them early this year and caught them working on their nests. There were so many of them and someone had added a 2nd house although I didn’t see any of the birds going in the holes on that one yet.

It felt like the females (in the lighter color) were the only ones getting sticks and leaves for the nest. The males were watching but I only saw one male picking up a stick from the ground.

As one female brought a big stick back to her hole in the house another male tried to mate with her (while her mate was sitting right there). She ran into her hole as her mate chased the intruder away.

It was a busy morning.

The stick gathering went on all morning as I sat and watched

This female brought back a stick that wouldn’t fit in the hole. She eventually dropped it.

This was in mid-March so I’ll be checking back for babies soon. This is the only place that I know of that they nest in the area although there may be some hidden ones in backyards. There’s a house in my neighborhood that I pass by as I leave but in 2 springs I haven’t seen any birds on it. I love the sound they make. It sounds like one of the animals on Jurassic Park.