Purple Martins are larger than any other common North American swallows, but this can be hard to judge in the field. Northern Rough-winged Swallows are brown above with a smudgy brown throat very similar to the coloration of a female Purple Martin; however, their small size and square, not notched, tail should help to set them apart from martins. Bank Swallows are small, with brown upperparts and a crisp, dark-brown bar across the upper chest. Barn Swallows, though glossy blue above, have rich peachy underparts and long, deeply forked tails. Tree Swallows and Violet-green Swallows are clean white below, with mostly squared tails. Cliff Swallows show a pale rump from above, and they have a rich red throat and creamy-buff patch over the bill. European Starlings have long bills and short, broad-based, triangular wings that give them a choppy flight style instead of the smooth, rowing flight of the long-winged martins.
Female Purple Martins in the West show more extensive white on their underparts than do eastern birds.
Put up a Purple Martin house in your backyard, and you just might be treated to a close-up look at these engaging birds all through the breeding season. Attach a guard to keep predators from raiding eggs and young. Find out more about nest boxes on our Attract Birds pages. You'll find plans for building a nest box of the appropriate size on our All About Birdhouses site.
You can put out crushed eggshells to give the martins a source of grit for digesting insect exoskeletons.
Find This Bird
In eastern North America during the summer, look for Purple Martins around martin houses, the miniature condominiums that many people put up in yards. The birds are more challenging to find in the West, where they nest in woodpecker holes in dead snags. Foraging Purple Martins hunt insects higher in the air than other swallows, but in the afternoon and evening they may feed low and close to nest sites. In late summer you might see enormous roosts of Purple Martins, particularly in the Southeast as they prepare to cross the Gulf of Mexico.
Purple Martins are a focal species in Project NestWatch. Learn more about them and contribute your data at their Purple Martin page.
House Sparrows and European Starlings are major competitors for martin nest boxes and can keep Purple Martins from breeding. Our Project NestWatch offers some suggestions for deterring these non-native species.
Our eBird project is a great way to keep track of the dates Purple Martins arrive and depart each year, and any other sightings in between.