By Shelia Hargis
Featured Photo: A nesting Purple Martin wearing his new federal band. Photo credit: Amber Burnette
Everyone is familiar with Travis Audubon’s Purple Martin Parties, right? Our involvement at the parties is just one way that Travis Audubon members help Purple Martins and spread the word about how cool they are. The Travis Audubon Purple Martin Committee is engaged in many aspects of the lives of these amazing birds. Keep reading to learn more.
Members of the committee serve as landlords and provide housing for Purple Martins to raise their families. Purple Martins are cavity nesters, and the eastern population is totally dependent on humans for their nest colonies. Our members oversee nest colonies in public places as well as on private property. We currently have fifteen nest colonies as part of our committee, and these stretch from the colony at Hornsby Bend to the colony at Mills Pond. Cumulatively, our nest colonies have produced over 1450 eggs, over 1200 nestlings, and nearly 1000 fledglings this season!
Some of the locations of nest colonies maintained by members of the Purple Martin Committee.
Some of our landlords have been landlords for many years and are experts in all that it takes to establish a nesting colony and to address various issues that can arise during a nest season. Colonies in Texas face issues that differ from those in other states, especially states further north. Our experts advise newer landlords on best practices for having a successful colony in Texas. There is a lot to know about being a good landlord so having mentors readily available to answer questions is a great resource. Any landlord who is interested in joining the committee or wants to consult with one of our experts can contact Shelia Hargis at Shelia.hargis@gmail.com. Travis Audubon also offers a Purple Martin Workshop each February taught by our experts.
Other members of the committee focus on educating the public about the life history of Purple Martins through community presentations and by volunteering at the Purple Martin Parties to answer questions and engage with the party attendees. Seeing the roost spectacle is a great way to get non-birders excited about birds. We invite all Travis Audubon members to join us for a party. Please spread the word about the parties and bring your family and friends to see the show!
Partygoers enjoying the Purple Martin show at the 2024 roost. Photo credit: Shelia Hargis.
Other members focus on supporting the birds at the large migration roost in Round Rock. Thousands of birds join the roost after the breeding season is over. Some come from nearby nest colonies, and some are heading south to South America. The roost forms in June and usually lasts through the end of August. Our roost volunteers arrive early every morning and walk through the parking lot looking for injured and deceased birds. The injured birds are taken to a wildlife rehabilitation facility, and with the appropriate federal permit, deceased birds are collected and delivered to the Texas A&M Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections to train students in preparing specimens for the Collections. The specimens are used in various research projects. To learn more about the avian collection, visit https://brtc.tamu.edu/collections/ornithology/. To join our team of morning roost volunteers, contact Kat Ross at kathrine_ross@hotmail.com.
Injured Purple Martin, possibly injured from colliding with the building. Photo credit: Kat Ross
Volunteer Charlotte Reemts preparing to cover the injured Purple Martin with a towel to facilitate capture and minimize stress on the bird. Photo credit: Kat Ross
Volunteer Charlotte Reemts gently picking up the injured Purple Martin to transfer it to a small box for transport to a wildlife rehabilitation facility. Photo credit: Kat Ross
See the associated video at https://tinyurl.com/4acab38w during which Charlotte determines the age of the injured martin, and the martin adds its thoughts on the interaction. Translation, “Thank you so much for helping me! I’m on my way to South America for the first time but had a little mishap today.” A special thanks goes to Austin Wildlife Rescue and All Things Wild in Georgetown for rehabbing our injured martins!
Since bird conservation is a prime objective for Travis Audubon, we have recently added a research component to our Purple Martin work by banding nestling Purple Martins. Banding birds is the process of marking individuals and using them as a lens to answer questions about the species. Amber Burnette is our bander, and she has a federal permit from the USGS Bird Banding Lab, who administers the North American Bird Banding Program, and a state permit from Texas Parks and Wildlife to band Purple Martins. There are still many aspects of the lives of Purple Martins that are unknown or poorly understood. Attaching a very small metal band with a unique nine-digit number to the leg of a Purple Martin allows researchers to track individual birds. The data collected at the time of banding includes when the bands were placed, the location where they were banded, basic measurements of wings and tails, and their age and sex. This data on tracked individuals can answer questions related to dispersal, survival, longevity, and colony and nest site fidelity that can’t be answered in other ways. The goals of our research project involve being able to answer questions such as, ‘Do the first birds that show up at a nest colony each year stay and breed at that colony?’, ‘How many one-year-old birds return to their natal colony (colony where they were born) to breed?’, and ‘How far to do one-year-old birds disperse from their natal colony to breed?’. We hope to be able to answer these questions and many others by tracking individual birds over time. The bands are very small, but if you see a banded bird and can read the number on it (this is challenging but sometimes possible through examination of photographs), please report it to the Bird Banding Lab at https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/. If you see a banded bird but can’t read the number, we would still like to know about your sighting. Contact Amber at redtail100@yahoo.com.
If you are fascinated with Purple Martins and want to get involved in securing a bright future for them, we would love to have you join our committee! As you can see, there are many ways to contribute. Contact Shelia at Shelia.hargis@gmail.com with questions or to sign up to be part of our Purple People team. Thank you!
