![]() ![]() We have several American Kestrel boxes placed around the refuge and some of the martins take up residence there, so the team must check these possible nesting spots too. This year 46 bands were spotted and read from birds banded in 2017 or earlier. The “Re-sightings” are recorded through the end of banding activity. Scanning for banded martins started in earnest April 21 st and continued until early August. A very early pair of Purple Martins was spotted on March 21 st along Bachelor Slough. The team has been working on this project for six years now, so the first order of business while putting up gourds is to start looking for banded birds from previous years. The full sets were completed later in the month. ![]() Initially, a single gourd was placed on each pole on April 3 rd sort of a “new homes coming” signal to the martins. One pole could be observed from the entrance of the River S. ![]() There were 48 units set up around the refuge (usually eight on each pole). gourds on poles) were set up in April by Randy Hill and his team along with help from Vancouver Audubon. The roosting birds on the pristine lake end the season in a flurry of activity, then just as suddenly, like summer itself, they’re gone until next year.From the Contact Station October 2018 Purple Martin Monitoring results and Fall MigrationĪs previously reported here, our Purple Martin condominiums (i.e. Then, the radar shows a blob of birds streaming south. It shows the numbers at Nimisila growing steadily throughout August, coalescing and dispersing each day in a steady rhythm. Some local birders use weather radar to monitor the purple martin flock. “And then you hear all the air from their wings, thousands of them,” Millikan said. "The sky was filled with so many birds, as far as you could see above you.” That's where I met Bill York and Tim Millikan, still aglow from the sunset display. There's not a bird in the sky as night embraces Nimisila, and the paddlers head to shore. Clouds of purple martins drop into the reeds, wave after wave. The birds skim inches above the water, surrounding us like a scene from Hitchcock, without the terror. So if one decides to turn to the right there’s this cascade, almost like folks at a baseball game doing the wave,” Kazimir said. “Folks have studied this mathematically, and it turns out they are influenced by the six birds around them. Like all swallows, with their forked tails and streamlined wings, they’re masters of the air.Īs darkness creeped in, the martins form a fast-moving vortex, a synchronized aerial ballet. Nimisila is home to a pair of bald eagles and four osprey nests.īut nothing can catch a careening purple martin. Owls aren’t the only potential predators. ![]() We’ve also had folks disregard the buoys and start paddling through those areas,” Kazimir said. “In some years we’ve had an owl come in and scare them away. “The moment they do not feel safe anymore they’re going to take off,” she said. The park district placed buoys around the reed bed, which Kazimir said marks a safe distance for viewing. A few birds alight briefly, sampling the security of the roost before fluttering back into the air. She said each night they return to this suburban lake from as far as 20 miles away, massing together before flying 4,000 miles to Brazil where they spend the winter feeding in the rainforest.Īs twilight approaches the pace of the swirling flock increases. “There’s around 10,000, but toward the end of the first week of September, we’ll see less and less as they migrate out,” she said. Graham tries to put an estimate on the growing hoard of birds overhead. They’re completely safe from raccoons, foxes and anything that might try to come and get them,” she said. “They decided it’s a great place to roost at night because there are no predators. Kazimir said the birds are drawn to the remoteness of the reed bed. Summit Metro Parks naturalists and Sarah Graham are along this evening to offer insight into the aerial display. WKSU Summit Metro Parks naturalists Janean Kazimir, left, and Sarah Graham, right, paddle on Nimisila Reservoir to watch the migration display of the local purple martin population. ![]()
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