Purple Martin birds (Springfield, Ozark: houses, buying, live)

[heaton]

Does the Springfield area have a lot of Purple Martin birds. I heard they are great for eating all those flying bugs you have??? Thinking of putting up a purple martin birdhouse, just to help with the flying bugs.....

Call me crazy, but I'll try anything to cut down on those bugs.

[mamagator54]

Hi,
I did a search for birds of Missouri. One site says "Purple Martins are among the most endearing of Missouri birds." And according to road side surveys four times as many Purple Martins can be found in the Ozarks and Bootheel regions than any other part of the state. The map showing the population of Purple Martins covers the Springfield area. This site has a 12 page article on them. You may find interesting. The site is mdc.mo.gov/nathis/birds/ - and the Purple Martin file can be found in the list on the left side of the page. Good luck.
One site I went to said that they are high fliers and not the best for controlling mosquitoes. But great for other insects.

[heaton]

Thanks for the web-site. It has great information on it.

[Ozarks21]

Originally Posted by heaton

Does the Springfield area have a lot of Purple Martin birds. I heard they are great for eating ...

Call me crazy, but I'll try anything ...

Fun with misquotes.

[Bird_Watcher]

Originally Posted by Ozarks21

Fun with misquotes.

LOL.....or is that... Mosquitoes??? haha...

A sense of humor is a good thing!

[Indy4570]

I would think bat houses might be as effective as martin houses... Ya just never can tell

[heaton]

I'll do whatever to help lower the amount of Mosquitoes around my home. Any other ideas on how to help control Mosquitoes??

[garth]

Originally Posted by heaton

I'll do whatever to help lower the amount of Mosquitoes around my home. Any other ideas on how to help control Mosquitoes??

Here's the simplist thing you can do to help the situation around your own home. Get rid of any standing water. That's where they breed. In other words, if you have a wet low spot, fill it in. If you have buckets stored behind the garage, or anything else that will catch and hold standing water, find a better place for them. If you have fountains in your yard, consider an alternative to them. It all comes down to getting rid of any places where they can breed.

Of course, it doesn't do much good if you neighbors don't cooperate, but that'll give you something to do. You need to get the neighbors to resolve similar situations in their own yard. The more you get on the band wagon, the fewer bugs will be around.

If you happen to have bought near what I call a stink pond, like an old cattle watering hole that's gone stale, there's not much you can do. The same goes for buying on a slough (stale wetlands). Since they don't belong to you the owner might not take kindly to any mitigation efforts.

Finally, there's a peice of equipment that is sold that attracts and catches mosquitos. It runs on propane. Since mosquitos are attracted to CO2, it produces it in abundance. They are attracted to the source, enter the equipment, and can't escape. All you have to do is keep your propane tank (BBQ size) filled and dispose of the mosquitos.

BTW, I don't know if they're dead or alive after being caught. If they're still alive , by the thousands , you'll need to read the directions to determine how to deal with them.

BTW, when I grew up in north San Diego County (CA) many years ago, we used to have a mosquito problem. The issue at that time was the disease that they carried. Back then there was a mitigation effort used by the county that wouldn't be too popular today. They sprayed oil on the wetland areas (sloughs) where they bred. It killed off the mosquito larva so they didn't grow into adults and start sucking your blood. Over the years it got rid of most of the mosquito problems.

With the population growth down there . . . you know, all those people from the midwest, including Missouri, who moved in . . . I'm sure they're not doing that any more. They've built houses all around those stinky sloughs, and I'm sure they wouldn't take kindly to oily water and shores. For that same reason, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to do around your own home.

Then again I know of at least one inlet that used to be a catch basin for a "straight pipe" from local sewers, and people now have houses on it. It's in front of La Costa (Leucadia area) if anyone knows the area. If they want to build their houses on a long-term toilet, I don't see how they could complain about killing mosquitos with a little oil.

Hope that helps.

[Indy4570]

My sister-in-law planted citronella plants around her patio plus had some sitting in pots around the picnic table area. That seemed to help control the pesky little buggers. And they give off a great scent too.

[HMcD]

This link should answer some questions.

Purple Martin Conservation Association

And, BTW, bats are ferocious on mosquitoes. And a bat house or two can be put together in a couple of hours. You may have to wait for a year for them to move in, tho'.

Try it, they are under siege due to habitat loss and need the help.