There are several migratory birds from the Midwest that spend the summers and springs in the northern United States, and then head down to the warm, Amazon rainforest during the winter months. One of those birds is the beautiful purple martin. Many of our retired grandparents are called "snow birds," because they also head somewhere warm to escape the winter temperatures. Due to the insect-dominant, low fat diets that the Purple Martin follows, their bodies don't adapt well to cold weather.

Purple martins are the only North American species of martins, and the only songbird that rely entirely on human-supplied nests for reproduction. People all over North America have committed their springs and summers to providing nesting grounds in their backyards for their visiting purple martins. Are you dependent on other humans for your home? Perhaps it is a good time to say thanks to the people in your life that provide shelter much like the purple martin's do with their warbling songs.

Purple martins are talented insect eaters. They catch all of their insect prey while in flight. Additionally, they get their water that way too. The purple martin skims the surface of a pond and scoops up the water with its lower bill. Common items in their diet include: flies, horseflies, wasps, bees, beetles, mayflies, stinkbugs, plant hoppers, grasshoppers, cicadas, and moths. The Expedition Team is very happy for their presence. You should be too, because one purple martin can eat over 2,000 mosquitoes per day!

Since martins feed solely on flying insects, they are extremely vulnerable to weather conditions that affect insect availability. Prolonged bad weather, such as rain, snow, cool temperatures, and/or heavy winds, all reduce or eliminate insect flight. If poor weather persists for more than 2 or 3 days, martins begin to die of starvation. Now do you understand why purple martins leave the Midwest during the winter? I'm still trying to figure out why they don't stay in the rainforest all year long.

So many great mysteries,
Patrick