[va-richmond-general] Re: Purple Martins at 17th Street (continued)

Our waitress at River City Diner Saturday night told us that the noise from
the birds is very loud as early 4-4:30 am when they all get off work.  They
had been curious about what was there, and we made sure they knew we were
there spending money because of the birds.  It is very interesting to
observe this site.

 

Jan

 

  _____  

From: va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
s.ridd@xxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 2:21 PM
To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: s_osberger@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [va-richmond-general] Purple Martins at 17th Street (continued)

 

Sunday, July 13th: Two people got up at 5:19 am and drove to 17th Street to
see the Purple Martins fly out of the trees. The birds proceeded in
"patches" or groups flying south.

 

Sunday evening: Seven people showed up in spite of the cloud cover. No
Peregrines. The Red-tailed Hawk reappeared for a short time  and left,
before the Martins flew into the trees. The definite spiral action of the
birds from Friday night was not observed either tonight or Saturday night. 

 

Saturday, July 12, 2008: About twenty people watched as two Peregrine
Falcons were perched atop the windows of the Monroe building like bookends.
One falcon flew towards a Purple Martin and turned back to the building. The
Red-tailed Hawk also reappeared and took two birds easting one in front of
us. Mike Wilson estimated that 3,900 Purple Martins flew into the trees on
this evening. Our thanks to Arun Bose for his sharp observations of the
falcons. And thanks to all who came!

 

(July 6)Last Sunday evening, we watch about 1,000 Purple Martins fly into
the 20 Bradford Pear trees. A red-tailed hawk had been waiting for them
nearby. It flew into the trees, grabbed a Purple Martin and flew to the
telephone pole in front of us and proceeded to eat the Purple Martin. 

 

When the hawk finished off the bird, it flew back into the trees and tried
for another Purple Martin. It missed and then perched on a nearby building.
The red-tailed hawk flew away after a dog barked at it.

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