Purple Martins on box at Rondeau Provincial Park
Interesting phenomenon yesterday. At about 5:50 pm, we were on our porch and heard quite a different racket from the trees across the road. The bird calls were not anything similar or familiar to us. Sighting the binoculars on the birds, we discovered that there were at least a dozen Purple Martins, hawking the skies ( but not over the pond )and settling in the tops of the locust trees. This is a species that we’d not seen previously from our porch …. in the middle of farm fields , yet !!!
Observer: Michael Gillespie, David Fife Line, west of Keene
Note: These birds may have come from the small colony that still nests in martin boxes at Elmhirst Resort, located just west of Michael Gillespie’s property. This species has declined precipitously in the Kawarthas in recent decades, as have all of the swallows and other aerial insect-eating birds . It used to be seen regularly along the Otonabee River right in Peterborough. (D.M.)
