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Purple Martin: Main
An Awesome Specticle and Phenomenon of Nature
Through education, comes understanding
Through understanding, comes appreciation
Through appreciation, comes preservation
Through preservation, comes protection.
-1984, Chief Naturalist Dennis Carter, Shenandoah National Park
Photos by Bob Schamerhorn
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In downtown RIchmond, Virginia the trees on 17th Street behind the city market have been used as a pre-migratory roost site by Purple Martins for at least since 2005. These birds come to sites such as this one after they fledge their chicks and they leave their nesting sites. Once a roost such as this one is established, they will use it for years to come. These roosts consist of tens of thousands of these large swallows. They put on a spectacular display as they dive from two to three hundred yards in the air to the roost trees by the thousands, nearly all at one time. It is a phenomenon that few people have had the opportunity to witness anywhere. Noemally these roosts are in very inaccessible areas and are not easy to get to or view. The roost is used for a gathering place prior to the birds’ starting their annual migration together to South America. This roost is active from mid July to early September.
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