Purple Martin Forum

Roost at airport reported on eBird here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S262944983

That expanding green blob in the middle of the screen is indeed the Round Rock roost (birds leaving the roost).
Received a tip that the birds moved south of 45 and east of 35 to some trees by Jason's Deli (near Target).

Had the good fortune to visit the roost in Austin Texas last weekend for the first time in a few years. Very nice, easily accessible roost. There was a good crowd of spectators there to watch and the Martins put on a great show. I hope everyone has the opportunity to see a roost in their area. If no...

Subadult female. Subadult male.

First subadults showed up at my place this week followed by the start of the singing of dawnsong by established males. Female subbie showed up on 4/17 and a male showed up on 4/19. Couple of days later I heard a male singing loudly about 5:30 AM, about an hour before daylight. The bird was singing f...

Off to a rough start again, Dave. Cold front blew in and we barely made to 50 here today although I know my friends in north and central Texas are having it much worse with wintry weather. I walked under the housing and could hear one or two of the Martins chattering inside but I didn't see them com...

Four Martins showed up this morning here in SW Houston, two pair. One day earlier than last year’s post-storm arrivals. Numerous area reports coming in now. Best wishes to all for a successful season!

Wind forecast still looks promising this week around Tue-Wed for south winds out of Mexico over the Gulf to the TX/LA coast. Use the slider at the bottom of the Windy.com map to move forward to Wednesday to see the wind forecast for that day. https://www.windy.com/?2022021703,26.451,-92.373,6 Hoping...

Wind map doesn't look favorable for gulf crossing until maybe middle of next week, unless we get some coming up overland thru Mexico. Meanwhile taking advantage of the mild weather to get housing ready for their arrival. Wildlife was hard-hit across the board in last year's winter storm, including b...

Mini peak here in Ft Bend County following an early morning storm yesterday with about 15-20 Ruby-throats chasing around. This has slacked off a bit today with clear skies and northeast winds, good migrating weather. One or two recent Rufous appearances were brief with the mob of Ruby-throats quickl...

Yes they are still there & making an impressive roost ring in the morning. They tend to move around in a 2-3 block area. At the time of my last visit two weeks ago the roost was located in the trees between At Home and Car Toys, 12605 N Gessner Dr.

In recent years the Martins here have been alternating between Willowbrook on the northwest side and Stafford on the southwest side for their roost site. This year the roost is back at Willowbrook. Here's about three and a half minutes of video footage from last Saturday. https://rumble.com/vkuv1b-p...

Saw this report on iNaturalist. Also several eBird reports at the same location.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89423094

There are currently two roost rings in the Austin area. One at Round Rock and another in Austin in the vicinity of I35@290. I have informed Travis Audubon of the second possible roost site. Their website only lists the Round Rock site for watch parties. Radar from this morning showing two rings: htt...

Good news, three here first thing this morning, singing and checking out the housing. New arrivals I suppose. Hopefully more are showing up at other sites across the area.

Two residents here before the freeze, nothing now and none flying. I visited two nearby parks today where Martins typically hang out and none there either. However there are several area reports on eBird after Feb 20 so this is promising. Houston west side.

Two Martins here thru 2/15. I attempted to feed them scrambled eggs by flipping and placing some inside the cavity entrance & they ignored it. Two males were huddled together in the same compartment at night to keep warm so I put hand warmers under the nest for them at night and that worked out ...

KHOU was there last night to film the birds. Here's the short news clip that was aired:
https://www.khou.com/video/life/animals ... Kt5bvjjBN8

Do a web search for "auto panel retainers". No guarantees on where they are made. These screw/rivet type retainers work better in my opinion for quickly swapping out a porch with a trap: https://store.skmfg.com/House-Gourd-Snap-_Screws/productinfo/PMDHS/ I found some of those locally at Lo...

lynnh, there's a roost ring in the vicinity of Fremont. I think this is one that Tim tried to track down a couple of years ago. It was still there this morning but it's getting late in the season & I would not expect it to be there much longer. Also the roost is far from the radar station making...