From their side, the Purple Martins may have found the village commotion gave them some protection from owls and snakes, which are fond of baby birds in their own ways. Other tribes of Native American copied the practice. Early reports say that the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes mounted gourds on the branches of bare saplings to attract Purple Martins. When the first European settlers arrived and learned about the friendly birds, they built birdhouses for them also, and North Americans have been hosting Purple Martins ever since. Nationwide a million hobbyists now maintain martin houses, keeping alive an ancient tradition of cooperation between bird and man.
Martin houses come in many shapes and sizes.
A recent approach, which is yielding high nesting success is, the SuperGourd . Other birds, such as wrens and bluebirds, also use birdhouses, but they continue to nest in the traditional ways as well. Purple Martins in eastern US, however, have undergone a total tradition shift. They nest only in human-provided housing, and they insist on being within about 30 to 100 feet of human habitation. They trustingly raise their young in our backyards and towns, sometimes right in the middle of our business districts.