Purple Martins

The neighbor up the alley has two purple martin houses, both have been taken over by those nasty house sparrows. He was just saying the other day how he hasn't seen the martins much this year. Well, they are still here and I think they are a little PO'd that someone else is in their house.

I was over there checking on the blue birds when I noticed these other two flying around. At first I thought they were barn swallows but when they landed on the wires I was excited to see that they were purple martins. They were making a big ruckus and flying around their house trying to chase the squatters away. They had no luck and eventually flew away.

I'm going to let my neighbor know that they are back in the area and that he should do what he can to get rid of those pesky house sparrows. We don't need any more of them around.

The female martin has the light colored belly.