Originally Posted by kriscraft99
does any one here have purple martins? I had my first pair this year and loved watching them. My question is, I had 2 fall-outs (jumpers) and put them back. Then a couple of days later, all of the babies and parents were gone and I haven't seen them since. Do they normally leave after the babes can fly?
We had purple martins at our other house. We also had a pool. The trouble was that the martins are excellent housekeepers, mom would bring out the poop in her beak and drop it in the pool and then go back for more. Raised havoc with the ph level in the pool. If I remember right the babies would perch on the edge of the house for a while before they tried flying. Then all of a sudden off they would go, straight over the pool.... It was fun in the evenings, tho when we would be in the pool and they would swoop overhead catching bugs. They (the babies) didn't return to the birdhouse after they learned to fly, but would stay in the area in the trees at night.