Purple Martin Houses Scattered throughout the South

Gourd houses line southern fields in the hopes that purple martins will inhabit them. Native Americans carved gourds for martins long before Europeans arrived in North America. The purple martin is the largest swallow found in the USA. Farmers love them because their diet consists of insects exclusively. Swallows eat (and drink) while flying. These beautifully-maintained gourd houses were photographed on Pleasant Ridge Road. If you want to hear what a purple martin call sounds like, follow this link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They describe the purple martin's sound as "a series of musical chirps interspersed with raspy twitters." Below, you see some fancy purple martin "condos," alternatives for people who don't want to mess with gourds!