Last night I piled my family into the car to partake in the social event of the summer season — the annual mass congregation of Purple Martins. The birds gather in numbers from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands in such roosts all over the eastern half of North America. The groups are so large that they actually can be monitored with Doppler radar. Austin is lucky enough to have a large roosting spot right here.
In a typical summer, the Purple Martins will start gathering in our area around mid-July, with birds migrating toward South America group by group, until by August they are gone, off to their winter home. However, with the extended drought we’ve been having, this is no typical summer. The birds are roosting earlier than usual, and I suspect they’ll leave earlier than usual, as well. Only the birds know how long they intend to stick around.
Most roosts can be found near water sources, as the numbers of insects are far greater there. I’m not sure why our Purple Martins roost near Highland Mall in the middle of urban central, but they’ve been going there for years. Of course, their roosting locale is also a favorite grackle and starling spot, contributing to many a person’s confusion about what kinds of birds they are seeing, especially because Austinites are used to the familiar gatherings of grackles and starlings each evening at dusk. However, the tell-tale graceful swoops and dives of the Purple Martins as they soar in the sky to find insects make them easy to distinguish from the clumsier flights of the larger dark birds, which instead forage on the ground for food.
If you watch the video above, you’ll get a sample of how utterly incredible the Austin roost is. Purple Martins, by the way, are North America’s largest swallow. And if you want to see some absolutely adorable baby Purple Martins, check out my previous Purple Martin post.
How amazing. I had no idea that this happened in Austin. I once went to a roost in England. It was unbelievable.
Wow, this is AMAZING! I used to have the purple martin gourd houses but never got a single martin 🙁 My husband doesn’t think martins exist. I’ll have to show him your video. Very cool! I looked at your previous martin post as well. Even better!
Thanks for that wonderful video. I am not used to being around Purple Martins but am living and working at Anahuac NWR as a volunteer. We have purple martin houses where I live and also in the maintaince area. I was surprised to see the martins had left in mid-June. I remember seeing a huge flock like this in Arkansas one August. But our bug numbers are way down as our all our birds, except for mockingbirds and grackles.
Meredith, Thank you so much for sharing the You Tube video of the roost. One word came to mind, incredible. The sound must have been deafening in person, it was so loud on the video.
I have previously witnessed a similar, but much smaller, roost here in Charleston a few times in two large trees behind our apartment, but have had no idea what type of birds I was seeing. I hope to see it again soon so I can try to figure out what type they were. The sound comes through our windows even with the a/c and TV on.
I always enjoy your posts, so educational and beautiful. Keep up the great work. Thank you.
Wow, that is amazing! Is this the roost site near Highland Mall? I’ll pay better attention timing next year so I don’t miss it in person.
Great information. The purple martins and the swallows are so fun to watch as they swoop down and around. Thanks for the video, too.
I really liked the video because I have never seen this before. It looks like the Hitchcock movie, The Birds. So many of them it is almost unbelievable.
Simply amazing. I had no idea something like this was happening in our country — if I jumped right into the middle of the video and there were no commentary, I might say it’s a bat swarm somewhere jungly.
Thanks for sharing!
Very cool! At the June meeting for The Garden Club of Austin, there was a tour of Laura Joseph’s purple martin sanctuary, but it seems like the purple martins have had a very rough year – many of the babies died from the heat. 🙁
Amazing. We have a lot near our house that is filled with the houses for them. I have never been over there to watch- would be incredible to watch in person!
Is the stick insect friend or foe? They are a *huge* pest in California.
The snakeskin is amazing.