Hello. A friend who lives in Enumclaw would like to put up houses that
would attract purple martins. He has heard that in the West, the martins
don't necessarily nest in those large colony boxes, but might use
individual houses.

I think we may have discussed this subject before--sorry if this is
repetitious.

Also, he wanted to know if he should wait till he sees purple martins
before he puts up a house, and I said that I thought he should put up the
houses first--was that bad advice?
Any other tips on how best to attract purple martins? Thanks in
advance! --Anna Coles, Seattle, WA acoles at u.washington.edu