How close do you HAVE to be to water?

[flyin-lowe]

I have a friend who is interested in starting a colony here in IN. Being new I explained to him what I have read and advised him to log on and begin reading before he jumps into anything. My question is, I have not been able to find an answer on exactly how close you should be to water to attract PM's. There might be some small streams or farm ponds that I don't know about near him but he lives in the boonies and no major bodies of water near by. Is he wasting his time or will the PMs nest and then travel to get to water. Luckily for me I have a 1000 acre lake less then an 1/8 of a mile across the Rd.

[Dave]

Most landlords in the midwest are within a 1/2 mile of water and most don't know it.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

I have seen successful colonies at least 2 miles from water. A martin can fly 5 miles very quickly to get a drink. I think the reason that water nearby helps a colony is because there are more insects near a river, pond, or lake than there are in a desert. Martins choose locations partly for safety from predators, and partly for abundance of food. If you have an abundance of food, the water is less critical..

[Sigundo]

I'll second that... there is probably a decent water source nearby that you don't even know about. I'm also sure some moisture is found in a big juicy bug (that would be my guess on where young fledgelings get water for the first 3 weeks). If everything else is great (housing, food source, predator free zone), I'd say lack of really close water would not stop a martin from living in your place.

Don't worry about the water too much, just the things you CAN control. If you win the lottery, feel free to build a lake with a martin island smack in the center of it. If I win it, I'll do that myself and post a picture to boot!

[rickluc]

flyin-lowe

My last colony was 11 miles from a body of water. I assumed they used the ditches and local hog ponds, you know what I mean.