After a meeting at the Richmond library yesterday, I went down Cary Street to 17 th street to see the purple martins. They were there. There were thousands of them, circling overhead like one of the old Windows screensavers. They headed to the trees between 17 th street and Grace/Franklin Streets. I got a picture with flash from them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/88695049@N00/2719885900/ This picture has a lot of white specks on it, if you look closely. These are not dust or imperfections in the picture. Each one is a purple martin eye. Jim Blowers _____ From: va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rachel Echols Sent: Wednesday, 2008 July 30 17:00 To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [va-richmond-general] Purple Martins downtown I know several people have already said this, but if you live anywhere near Richmond and have not yet been downtown to see the the masses of purple martins descending into the trees to roost for the night, you really should go. I finally made it last night and it was an incredible spectacle. No peregrine falcon showed up, but the red-tailed hawk was there and we saw him consume two birds. Here is a link to pictures for anyone interested: <http://flickr.com/photos/rlechols/2717955504/> http://flickr.com/photos/rlechols/2717955504/ Rachel Echols Chester, VA