Hi Pat,

I wish my grandmother was still alive so I could ask her. She always had a martin house, and they seemed to like it. She also had barn swallows.

Starlings are a very invasive species, released into Central Park by a man with more romantic ideas than sense at the end of the 19th century, and now spreading all across the Americas: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-invasive-species-we-can-blame-on-shakespeare-95506437/

If you read this article you will see that they not only destroy the nests and eggs of native birds but also spread histoplasmosis (see article). You don't want that in your garden!

Toolbelt, I don't know why I said hanging...the house is actually attached to a tall post. It's not 20 feet tall, but probably around 10 ft. So, I would regret letting the Starlings stay?

KS, I responded to Toolbelt before seeing your post. The paperwork I have from the Martin Society says once you get the Martins to come to your house, if they like it there, they will come back every year. I bet your grandmother's was a wonderful refuge for them.

I definitely don't want Starlings messing with my natives or bringing disease to us or my dogs, so I will follow your and Toolbelt's advice and take the house down for now. Thanks!

Nor do you want Histo in your lungs. I have it, and my lung xrays are really ugly.

Starlings multiply.

Check out the google images of black bird flight.Black Bird Formations. For several months every fall I'll see images like that every morning. Our cats won't even go outside when the starlings land and inhabit our acres. And then, when they take off.....poop city. No wonder so many of us in the Tennessee Valley has histo.

Further more, I don't know who is feeding the d***ed things cement, but it must be a component of their poop, because removing it from cars, home windows, etc. generally takes more than a strong stream of water.

And they are ugly.

I do see the "black fog" of birds flying over us in the early spring and late fall as they migrate. I guess those may be Starlings...I always thought they were cowbirds. They will land in droves in our yard sometimes, but the dogs normally chase them off quickly. Maybe since the Martin house is so high above ground, they decided to try to make a home here. I wouldn't have known they were Starlings instead of Martins if I hadn't been checking images in my Martin pamphlet against what the birds building nests in the house look like...the birds building nests have yellow beaks, which the pamphlet says is a tell sign of male Starlings during mating season. I've already let DH know the house is coming down ASAP. He's thrilled that I've attracted the plague to our yard and now he gets to remedy my mistake.

And starlings are so LOUD, you can hear them inside of buildings! They drown out the cheerful chirping of other birds like sparrows.

Carla in Sac

The martins generally feed high up so may not help with insect issues in a garden, they eat almost any insect. If you really want to attract martins all the info is on the Purple Martin Conservation Association web site, lots of reading. I have Purple Martins, they are not quiet birds, LOL