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Craft Your Own Taverner Purple Martin House
All featured plans here have been designed with the Hobby Builder in mind. When constructing these houses always keep safety in mind and use your tools safely! The Taverner design was started years ago by a Canadian Ornithologist by the name of Percy Algernon Taverner.
Percy Algernon Taverner
Have a look at Percy’s Biography on Wikipedia.
P. A. Taverner was born Percy Algernon Fowler in Guelph, Ontario in 1875. After his parents separated and his mother remarried, he took on his mother’s second husband’s surname. Taverner, a self-taught naturalist, was the first ornithologist at the National Museum of Canada, now the Canadian Museum of Nature, from 1912 to 1942. He also helped to establish the Point Pelee National Park and a number of bird sanctuaries across Canada, including Bonaventure Island.
He is the original designer and engineer of the now-called Taverner Purple Martin House which has been modified in both wood and aluminum to suit today’s housing standards. Have a look at his bio., his original plans, and some of the articles and books which he authored. He was well ahead of his time in both his martin observations and suggestions.
In 1919, he wrote an article called “Bird-houses and Their Occupants”, which was printed in the early 1919 edition of a publication called The Ottawa Naturalist.
The article is available for online viewing, via the non-profit openlibrary.org.
Here is the beginning:
Bird Houses and Their Occupants
A photo of his house design (complete with Martins flying around)
The start of the Purple Martin section of the article:
The original blueprints of his Martin house design:
Taverner’s first attempt at a Purple Martin House (Photo below) required that the house could only be accessed with a ladder or taken down at the end of the season. Nevertheless, the martins in numerous numbers occupied this house in Ottawa, Ontario in the early 1900s.
P. A. Taverner’s second attempt at building a purple martin house for his garden turned out just as his plans were designed. Since he was a fine architect as well as an ornithologist, he seemed to know what was best for the purple martin. His thinking about the design was ahead of its time: a house that can be lowered; a house that could trap invasive species; a house that could be monitored. He was truly a Purple Martin house builder ahead of his time over 100 years ago.
The Single Taverner Purple Martin House
The adapted original 16-compartment condo is available for download . It includes Starling Resistant Doors, Winch Operation for easy Raising and Lowering , and a printable take away plan.
The Double Taverner Purple Martin House
The Double Taverner 36-compartment unit above is an adaptation of Taverner’s original house with tall peaks. The Double Taverner revised blueprint unit is available above to download.
Many landlords look for different types of housing to add to their Purple Martin colonies. Chuck Abare has come up with a detailed plan to get you moving in that direction. There are other suggestions as well to set you up with the proper hardware. Thank you Chuck for sharing.
Manitoba Purple Martin House Plan
The following pdf. article is a brief Bio of Ernie Didur who headed the Manitoba Purple Martin Club as well as the house plan and the house that he promoted and has spread throughout Canada for the preservation of Purple Martins. We are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see its proliferation over many provinces and states.
