purple martins go to south america in the wintertime.
purple martins go to south america in the wintertime.
where do purple martins go in the winter time?
south america
section::::behavior.









































section::::behavior.:migration.









































wintering in south america, purple martins migrate to north america in spring to breed. spring migration is somewhat staggered, with arrivals in southern areas such as florida and texas in january, but showing up in the northern united states in april and in canada as late as may. males usually arrive at a site before females.
purple martin
the population of eastern purple martins (nominate form "p. s. subis") is dependent on artificial martin houses of wood or aluminum and fake plastic gourds, supplied by individuals and organizations fond of the bird. this tradition was in place even before the population crash; the cherokee indians were known to have hollowed out the gourds in the pre-colonial era. they erected them so that the adult birds would build nests and then feed thousands of insects to their young each day that would otherwise be eating their crops. the situation requires continual maintenance, as european starlings and house sparrows compete with martins as cavity-nesters, and will fight with martins over nest sites. starlings have even been known to kill purple martins, especially nestling young, and house sparrows have been known to evict purple martins from their nests. thus, unmonitored purple martin houses are often overtaken by more aggressive, non-native species. purple martin proponents are motivated by the concern that the purple martin would likely vanish from eastern north america were it not for this assistance.
purple martin