Purple Martin Forum

Went to the airport Friday evening, Sept. 25th, and found the martins have all moved on in the past ten days. Last saw some there on Sept. 16th. Hope they have a safe migration, and don't run into severe weather along the Gulf coast. So they ended up using the trees at the airport for nearly two and...

The Roost Watch event went well. There were around 100 people who came out to see well over 100,000 martins. It was spectacular as always, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Hard to believe another season is winding down.

The Tulsa Audubon Society's annual Roost Watch event will be tomorrow evening beginning around 8 PM in the parking lot of the Hilton Garden Inn, which is on the east side of the entrance road to the airport in northeast Tulsa. There appears to be well over 100,000 martins there, and they start trick...

Thank you all for your replies. I am so glad so many martins have learned to take supplemental feeding. They go through so much after migrating the thousands of miles from South America. Have a great nesting season with your birds!

We don't have any martins at our place yet this year, but I have been concerned about the ones that have already arrived. This has not been good feeding weather for them and I hope they make it OK. They are remarkable birds! Good luck to everyone.

Hi, Ron

Hope you have a real good season in Piedmont! Not seeing many martins around Tulsa, and none at our site yet.

Take care, Dick

Saturday evening's Roost Watch had about 100 people who came out to see the birds, and between 100,000 and 200,000 martins showed up to see the people! It was a very pleasant evening and gave us a chance to talk to many folks about the martins and their long migration to Brazil.

There were thousands of martins there last night. This is an amazing spectacle of Nature! Please come see it - you will be very glad you did!!

On Monday evening, there were probably between 100,000 and 200,000 martins using this roost. They were in trees just east of the two hotels along the entrance road to the terminal and most seemed to come into the trees between 8:30 and 9 PM. The Tulsa Audubon Society is sponsoring a Roost Watch even...

The martins are roosting at the airport again this year, but are mostly using trees more to the south of the terminal along the entrance road to the terminal close to the two hotels on either side of the road. I have been out of town and need to check the roost again to see how many birds are there....

Dave, I think the reason our local roosts have had birds for so long is that they have become stopover roosts for birds from farther north. We have had these type of roosts for nearly 30 years. From the early 1990's to around 2003, the martins used an auto bank (square block in size) as a jumbo roos...

Went by the airport last evening, and there were not only no martins there but the starlings had cleared out as well. So they used it as their roost for about two months or a little longer. Hopefully the martins in this area will do better next year.

Last evening there were still many thousands of martins coming in to roost before dark, if anyone still wants to see them. I had looked at Lake Yahola on my way to the airport, and there were some coming south over the lake, but not very many. Most of the martins seemed to be coming from the west an...

Hi, Matt. Thank you for the kind words. The airport has been much more accepting of the martins, and very cooperative with Anita and me and the efforts to protect the martins. We really hope the birds go somewhere else next year, but building a positive relationship with the property owner or manage...

We have been in communications with the airport management people, and they have been much more accepting of the martins' presence this year, and have been very helpful by not firing whistling and exploding firework-type devices at the birds. Sound has been used to move the birds away from a baggage...

From things I have read over the years, there may be martins along the Gulf coast until well into November. There is the jumbo roost in New Orleans that as it winds down could still have some birds very late. There may not be much of a gap between when the last birds going south leave and when the f...

From things I have read over the years, there may be martins along the Gulf coast until well into November. There is the jumbo roost in New Orleans that as it winds down could still have some birds very late. There may not be much of a gap between when the last birds going south leave and when the f...

Last evening there were four martins in the air at the airport roost. They came in with a small group of starlings and were later seen flying around with a couple of chimney swifts. I never saw the martins land in the trees that have been used for roosting over the past two and a half months, so not...

Last night about 500 to 600 martins came in to roost at the airport. They seemed to mostly be approaching from the west and south and then sailed around overhead. Many were landing on a communication tower near some of the air freight buildings, and then would have brief fly-offs. Almost all had lig...

Anita, heard back from the rehabber. One of the birds had to be euthanized, and the other was released at the colony of another rehabber's parents. It apparently did fine. I will be checking again the first of the week to see if there are any martins still roosting at the airport. It is getting very...