Purple Martins nesting in street lights

[Guest]

Has anyone ever seen purple martins nesting in lamp posts? I was cutting a yard in St Cloud FL and saw young martins landing in low trees and being fed. I then noticed no housing in sight. To my surprise I saw each female enter a lamp post to set their eggs. I have pictures if anyone is interested.

[wyatt]

Please post the pictures! Yes, There are lots of Purple Martins nesting in the lamp posts near my house. I think the lights look like gourds to them. They seem to be very happy there. They also nest inside the
cross bar for the traffic light.

[Kelly Applegate~MN]

A few years back I saw martins nesting in a tornado siren here in Minnesota. I'm not sure if they are still there. I can't imagine what would happen if they tested the system.

[Matt F.]

This is a great thread!

Forum member Stephen Cruse posted some photos last year, showing some Martins that were nesting in a sodium vapor streetlight.

Here's that thread:
http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10576

[Louise Chambers]

Martins have nested in lights like that in CA too, and in LA they were using the horizontal arms on those huge structures for power lines. They make some interesting choices - I had not thought about how similar those lights are to horizontal gourds Always neat to see the martins in different situations like these.

Louise

[Guest]

Yes it was cool to see until I realized the 150.00 I spent on gourds and housing is never used by them but street lights are.

[wyatt]

Hang in there! Hopefully they'll be nesting at your site next year!

For those that are having a hard time visualizing, there is an opening at the base of the light fixture underneath where it attaches to the pole, and then there is a hollow area inside the fixture. I think it's dark in there, but I wonder how warm it gets when the lights are on?

[Julio]

i wonder the same thing those lights must get hot.

[DAKdude]

Almost every neighborhood that has a particular type of street lamp (most likely the one in your pictures) has martin in them. There are many of them all around Kissimmee and hunters creek. One of the people that works for me gave me pics of martins in the 4 corners/Clermont/ US27 area that nest in street lamps. I hope that the company that makes that model doesn't change them or the cities decide to block the holes. They may be the most important nest site resource for martins in central Florida. (based on the number of available nest sites compared to dedicated martin houses.)