Tulsa Roost is Spreading - Some are Jailbirds

[Dick Sherry]

Last night we found the number of martins using the Archer roost has increased to the point the birds are also using trees a block or two to the north of Archer. Yesterday I got a call from a man who works at the city/county jail which is a couple blocks north of Archer on Denver. He said martins are roosting in trees in coutyards within the jail's buildings. He was concerned because some of the birds were flying into glass windows and getting killed. They are going to try putting plastic owls near the windows to see if that helps. Anyone have any ideas on other solutions?

Last night was the first time I had seen thousands of martins landing on the roof of an old theatre at Brady and Boulder. It looked like the world's largest martin house! They moved off of it before dark, but up until then a large part of the roof surface was covered with martins.

Also met a family from Ft. Smith, Arkansas that had come over to see the roost. I think they got their money's worth. There must be at least a couple of hundred thousand martins there now.

[Robert McCallum]

Dick,
Thanks again for the reoportr on the roost. Gotta go have a look again!

Bob McC

[RC Moser]

They must see the reflection in the glass monentary comfused IMO. Short of danging something to break up the the reflection.? Maybe a well placed plastic owl danging in the center of the window might work.

[Guest]

Dick,
My wife and I went to the Tulsa Roost Friday night. I have never seen anything so amazing in all my life. We met up with several martin enthusiast and just sat back and watched the martins come in. I was totally amazed by it and honestly have never seen anything like it before. If anyone lives close by they need to come and see this amazing event. Thanks for your reports.

[Dick Sherry]

Chuck, I have been out of town for a week, so have just now seen your message. I am really glad you got to see the roost! It is hard to describe to people how many birds there are and the multiple places they are using in that neighborhood. The numbers should be peaking in the next week or two, so I hope there will be more folks who get to see this before the numbers start going down.