"What's that telephone pole with the gourds hanging all over it?" It's actually a man-made safe haven for purple martins, a type of colonial bird that spends most of the summer months in similar structures throughout North Carolina. When nesting, they rely almost entirely on man-made bird houses, which you can typically spot around farms, pastures, lakes or ponds. For more information on purple martins, visit bit.ly/2OofUDT | NC Wildlife Resources Commission

Purple martins are quite vocal. They are known to chirp, chortle, rattle, and croak. Their various calls are described as "throaty and rich" and can be rendered as tchew-wew, pew pew, choo, cher, zweet and zwrack. The males have a gurgling and guttural courtship song, a dawn song, and even a subsong used at the end of the breeding season. Tapes of purple martin song are sold to attract martins to newly established birdhouses. The purple martin (Progne subis), from the Passeriformes order, is the