Good morning,
As you may know, the Purple Martin roost in Austin moved from the Highland
Mall area where it had been for at least 30 years to Capital Plaza Shopping
Center this summer. Initially (in mid-June) the birds were all coming in to
roost in four or five trees along the main driveway into the center, near
Shepler's Western Wear. Last weekend at Travis Audubon's first Purple
Martin Party weekend, some of the birds roosted in those trees but many
others roosted in two other groups of trees - trees near TSO (on the north
side of the mall) and a tree south of the original trees, near the
drive-through of Chase Bank. This had the birds much more spread out than
I've ever seen them. In the past, they would be packed into a few trees,
shoulder to shoulder, even when there were other trees nearby that they
could have used. Last weekend they weren't packed in very tight at all. So,
I thought last weekend's behavior was interesting but might be explained
somewhat by more birds at the roost than in June.
Last night we were there for another Purple Martin Party. Much to our
consternation, no birds roosted in the original trees. Of course, these
trees would provide the best show of the birds dropping into the trees from
where we have people sitting to watch! The aerial show was still
spectacular but most people didn't get to see thousands of birds jockeying
for position when it was time to roost. Darn birds!
There were two huge clusters - one near TSO and one near the south tree.
And there were many, many birds in two large trees next to the Chase Bank,
near the south tree. The roost was then made up of two clusters of trees
approximately 0.1 miles apart.
Once the birds seem to have settled down, we packed up and all the
attendees left. Just as the last of us were about to leave (about 9:30p),
the whole group of birds rose up out of the south tree and Chase Bank trees
and swirled around for an unknown reason. I didn't see anything that would
have spooked them but something obviously did. I didn't hang around to see
where they settled.
Who knows what the birds will do tonight! We'll be there for another Travis
Audubon party, so come join us for a front row view of an amazing aerial
show and some very unusual roosting behavior. It is never a dull moment
with birds!
I'd love to hear from others who have roosts in your area. How do "your"
birds act?
Thanks,
Shelia Hargis
Austin
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