Delta Journal
by Bob Thomas

Purple martins are among our most beautiful and entertaining spring and summer birds. The scouts (first arrivals) arrive in late February to find their very same old nesting areas and to protect them from others. Nesting is well under way by late March.

The males are very dark iridescent blue-black, while the females are dark above with a light chest and underparts.

These graceful members of the swallow family take easily to human made nesting boxes. Once the nest is made, the female lays her eggs and stays on the nest until the young are able to fly. The male returns to the nest each day to help with care of the young and feeding the female. She does fly about during the day.

These birds are insect feeders, and can be seen capturing bugs on the wing all day long. It is believed that they feed primarily on mosquitoes, but judging from where they feed and the time of day, it is assumed that mosquitoes are a minor part of their diet.

Each evening, the male goes to the Causeway at the edge of the lake He then roosts under the Causeway, returning to his family the next morning. After the young are able to fly, they and the female begin to roost under the Causeway, though they all return each day to their nesting box to feed, soar, and chatter away.

Things really get exciting by July when not only all the local Purple Martins and their young meet each evening to roost, but thousands of birds from the far north as beginning to arrive and prepare for their August migratory flight to the Amazon, where they spend the winter. By mid-July, it is estimated that about 100,000 Purple Martins congregate at each end of the Causeway each evening and disperse the next morning.

If you have never watched this aerial show, you should park in the parking garage at Lakeway Towers, and walk to the viewing stand provided on the west side of the Causeway. The birds appear suddenly at about 8-8:15 p.m. each evening, flying about in swirls. They go under and out, under and out, until they finally come to rest for the evening out of sight under the bridge.

Purple martins are a source of great enjoyment for local nature enthusiasts, and they play a major role in controlling their insect prey.

Also published in Delta journal, The Times Picayune, April 12, 1989.