[va-richmond-general] Purple martin roost, this morning 8/5/09
- From: "Janice Frye" <jjfdc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "'RAS List'" <va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 07:27:16 -0400
I arrived about 5:30 and the birds were chattering without any movement from
tree to tree. Adolph arrived soon after on the way to pick up his grandson.
At 5:58 the sacrificial birds began to leave one to several dozen at a time.
At 6:02 the first of about half a dozen peregrine/predator alerts was heard,
and at 6:04 a peregrine was visible on the Monroe Building. Adolph and I
were discussing how to characterize the sound change that occurs when the
peregrine is detected by the birds in the roost. It isn't exactly a
decrease in volume. I suggested that maybe it sounded a little like a
pillow had been placed over the noise, and Adolph decided that it sounded
sort of like they went from chattering to mumbling. Maybe a muffled
cheering crowd, for those of you who have heard it? Hope to have it on
youtube soon.
Adolph had to leave then, and at 6:14 the peregrine streaked from the Monroe
Bldg. directly above the TECHEAD lot and grabbed breakfast from the air.
Could have been a starling.. After that the big waves of 300-500 birds
began streaming away low between the buildings. After 8 or 9 of those, a few
more waves of 100-200 birds left. I had estimated 4000-5000 birds in the
air at one point last night, but they still don't land in a very organized
fashion so this was good to see. Once the peregrine threat had abated and
the martins were mostly gone, the little flock of starlings in the trees
adjacent to the TECHEAD lot began to join the thousands of starlings that
had started streaming by overhead. The martins are only using the trees
between the lot and the market for now, perhaps because the building next to
the lot gives more shelter? A couple of grackles also spent the night
there. I left at 6:23.
Have a great day!
Jan
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- » [va-richmond-general] Purple martin roost, this morning 8/5/09 - Janice Frye
