John and Sandra Cearley of Copperhill have been landlords since 1993 to as many as 500 Purple Martins in their front yard. What started with a handful of gourds has become 144 nesting sites, now artificial gourds, on four racks.

It started out as a story of love, Sandra said. Her husband, now retired from Bellsouth, wanted to give her something to make her happy. They started with successful bluebird boxes and then he shared his knowledge of Purple Martins from his childhood in North Carolina.

After several years with no success, the Cearleys figured out what the birds want and the nesting began. Their first pole had 16 gourds and within a week a nesting pair moved in, hatching five eggs. After wintering in Brazil, Purple Martins typically return to the same nesting place every year, often with family and friends. The landlords in Copperhill continued adding apartments to the complex. Cearley said each pair uses several gourds because it gets too crowded. As the young get larger, the parents spend the night in a different gourd.

That first year, there was the nesting pair and one bachelor, she said. The visitors have increased yearly, with 70 nesting pairs one year, resulting in some 500 birds coming home every evening including all the little ones. The Purple Martins spend the day searching for food -- insects they catch on the fly -- and return home to roost at sundown.

Cearley pointed out they are noted for eating mosquitoes but said they mainly eat other insects since they’re home at dark when mosquitoes are most prevalent. She said they notice a difference in the insect population after the Martins leave for the winter.

In early spring, the males arrive first and pick a gourd, then try to attract a female with a special call. This is an annual occurrence as they do not mate for life. The female may pick a mate but move to another gourd, or she may go to the male with the gourd she’s happy with. During nesting season, starting in May, the female stays on the nest, with the male nearby. They take turns on the nest and both help feed the young.

It’s a  joy to watch them and hear them, she said, adding it gets noisy in the morning and evening, especially after the hatch. “It’s terribly quiet when they leave.” The birds enjoy cooling off in the spray when the Cearleys water their lawn, and they are totally people friendly. She said they check the nests with no problem and she has even used a spoon to lift the Mama bird in order to count the eggs.

Cearley said there was one bird they could recognize because it had a little topknot. “Marty” came back for seven years, always taking the same gourd. “It was sad when he didn’t come back one year,” she said, noting the Martins don’t live much longer than seven years.

Their home has become an attraction to bird lovers, Cearley said, noting a lot of people come to take pictures and videos. “We get to meet a lot of people,” she said, adding they really enjoy sharing the birds with others. This year, they’ll have even more to share as they have a video camera attached inside one of the gourds to provide their own version of reality TV.

This year, the first bird arrived on Feb. 14, the earliest ever, and there are now more than 40. Most arrive by the end of February or early March, although the younger birds, last year’s nestlings, come through May. Only about 2% of the young birds return to the same place.

For more information about Purple Martins, log on to www.purplemartin.org