Please use this form to help the PMCA locate, describe, and protect Purple Martin roosts. Initial documentations are eagerly sought. Additional reports will add value. All accepted reports will be included in the Project MartinRoost online catalog.

A martin roost is a place where Purple Martins sleep at night. A martin roost typically forms annually with martins using it nightly during late June, July, August, and early September in North American or during November, December, and January in South America. A martin roost may have from 1000 to 1,000,000 individuals, with numbers more typically in the 25,000 to 100,000 range. Most martin roosts are large enough to show up on Doppler weather radar as the birds leave in the morning.

A staging area is just a daytime resting/loafing area. So, if martins don't spend the night at the location in question, it is not a roost; it's just a staging area. A staging area may only form for a few nights or weeks and is just a random, temporary location. A particular staging area won't often be used in two consecutive years. Also, a naturally forming staging area may only have 100 to 5000 martins

The places where martins gather to perch also distinguish a roost from a staging area. Martins typically stage on overhead wires, antennas, or utility poles, or on the roofs of buildings, on boat masts, or in the immediate vicinity of martin housing. Martins can also be seen staging on dead trees or, less commonly, in single live trees. In contrast, martins roost (sleep) under bridges or in the trees, brush, or reeds of islands. A very common roosting site for Purple Martins is in the upper leafy branches of medium-to-large trees in park-like urban settings. These trees are often (but not always) well lighted at night and border paved parking lots or streets.

So, in summary, the behavior of the gathered martins (sleeping vs. not sleeping), the seasonal duration and year-to-year permanence of the gathering, the number of birds gathered, and the perching location of the gathered birds all help distinguish a martin roost from a martin staging area. To accurately distinguish between the two, an observer should stay at the site well past sunset and also return to the location for additional observations.

If you are confident that the Purple Martin gathering that you observed is a roost and not a staging area, please continue.