Don't kill Dad's Purple Martins

The Lowe's were known for having a hot temper, but I can remember only one time I saw my dad lose his temper and threaten to commit homicide.  The victim of his wrath was our mama cat; she had killed a Purple Martin and displayed it proudly as if she had done something praiseworthy.

If you are familiar with  Purple Martins,  you know that they like to nest in communities.  Dad maintained a house with several compartments and we always hosted several Purple Martin families.  The house was high on a pole; I don't know how  the cat got to the bird but she managed.  Perhaps the bird attacked her first. No matter, Dad made it clear, he preferred the Martins to the cat.

For years I intended to install a Martin house in my garden.  I would examine houses at Lowe's and Home Depot but always preferred to  build my own.  Now the garden is no more but a Martin community would still be great in the backyard because the birds are beautiful to watch and they eat the hell out of mosquitoes.

Martins winter in the Amazon basin, returning to North America in the spring. We benefited from a large population of these birds in the 1980's, but they have become scarce and depend upon the support of humans building nests for them.