It can be a challenge to get a colony started. One of the common reasons that a nest box fails is that it is not set up to be checked easily and house sparrows end up moving in. One common misconception about purple martins is that they feed mainly on mosquitoes. Purple martins are a large member of the swallow family and feed primarily on larger insects such as dragonflies, wasps, winged ants, winged termites, beetles, and grasshoppers. They do occasionally take smaller insects such as mosquitoes.
Many people enjoy setting up boxes for the Eastern bluebird.
The local representative for the Ohio Bluebird Society is Mary Lee Minor.