Purple Martin Majesties

When the sun sinks into the treeline, in the long days of mid-to-late August...
the Nimisila Reservoir, just south of Akron ,Ohio is the place to find Purple Martins.

Our guide, Sandy Brown leads us out into gently slapping waters. The wind was a bit more than we had hoped for, and I suspect it was the last breaths of hurricane Irene. Not enough to stop us, but enough to warrant caution with life jackets snugly in place over our coats.

The cattail islands stand alone. Not much to catch your eye during daylight hours, but knowing the magic we were about to witness, they loom huge against our tiny kayaks.

In they come. Hundreds and hundreds of Purple Martins winging their way to a late summer night roost. Purple Martins, the largest of our swallows, are generally found inhabiting boxes and gourds supplied by homeowners and enthusiastic Amish farmers. In the late days of summer, Martins leave their domestic homes and gather en mass for the coming journey.

Swirling and sweeping across the sky, they pour into the cattail reeds. This colony was much larger two weeks ago, but many have already vacated. Skyward, by night for the 5,000 some mile migration to Peru and Brazil.

We silently paddle back to shore, with a smiles spread wide on our faces... and a quiet song in my heart:

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies

For amber waves of grain,

for purple martin majesties,

Above the fruited plain...

At least, that is my way of singing it tonight.

The Purple Martin Massacre

Today was our second Bird-walk offered in Lakeside, Ohio. We had another nice turn-out and with attendees from New York City and Florida, we had a pretty good span of the East coast covered! It is always fun to chat with other birders, and learn from them as well. Once again we ended the walk on the lakefront in front of our Purple Martin colony.

Unfortunately, the Purple Martins were highly excitable and one house was completely free of activity. We wondered why there seemed to be feathers stuck to the roof, and once we walked in closer, we witnessed a gruesome scene of shattered wings and Martin parts. The house cast a chill over our mood, like the Nightmare on Elm Street.

Nature is sometimes cruel, and the Purple Martins were a tasty morsel for something higher up the food chain. This colony seemed to fare the cold snap in June better than their inland counterparts, most likely because mayflies are so plentiful in this location. Sadly, now we learn the hard way how tough nature can be, the house was probably predated by a raccoon. The Purple Martin landlord, Bill Dudrow had new sheet-metal animal baffles installed on the poles before noon today.

Hopefully we will have cheerier news to report next time, you can go here to see a post of this colony in happier times.

Sorry to the botany fans- I promise to post some flora photos soon!