Purple Martins do not visit feeding stations, subsisting instead on a protein diet of insects and worms occasionally supplemented with crushed eggshells that humans put out for them. They typically snag bugs on the fly, their soaring, circling flight patrol pattern often interrupted by graceless flops in pursuit of the hapless mosquito that crosses their path. Some of their most common prey are:
| Lunch for Purple Martins | ||
|---|---|---|
| Asparagus beetle | Gnats | Moths |
| Bees | Grasshoppers | Other beetles |
| Colorado potato beetle | Horseflies | Spiders |
| Cucumber beetle | Japanese Beetle | Stinkbugs |
| Dragonflies | Mexican bean beetle | wasps |
| Flies | Mosquitoes | Winged ants |
