There seems to be something weird happening way up north here in Alberta Canada. For the first time in my memory (I am over 50) it appears that they are what looks like Purple Martins swooping and landing in our bare trees covered with hoar frost (more than one hundred, for sure).
Are they mixed up ? It has been very mild, but definitely no insects are here now. They have the kind of pointy wings and notched tail. They move very quickly, swooping around and then sitting either on wires or in the bare trees. They appear to be grey but one had run into a window at a gas station and it certainly looked like the pictures I see on line.
We have had very unusual other bird species coming up this far north as well, the Lesser Goldfinch and the Yellow-headed Blackbird to name a couple. Our winter has been very mild, not dipping below -7C (25 F ?).
Hi 907Rocky, I live an hour west of you in Edmonton. I can absolutely guarantee you with certainty the birds you are seeing are not purple martins. From your description of "grey birds in flocks" I'd say they are Bohemian Waxwings, huge flocks of which migrate into central Alberta in the January to March timeframe, eating the abundant mountain ash berries in the trees. Just last week I saw a large flock of about 300 devouring my neighbors mountain ash berries, which hang on the trees until spring.
As purple martins only eat flying insects, even if a martin were to try to miraculously migrate this far north in January, it would have starved to death well before arriving here in Alberta. If you check the scout reports in past years, you will see the earliest scouts arrive in late April. The bulk of the ASY birds seem to arrive roughly on Mother's Day, say about May 10. The SY birds start to show up the first week in June, and continue arriving until mid June up here. By August 21-25 they are basically all gone, heading for Brazil. Hope this helps.
He who harbors the nesting bird shall have health and happiness all the year
Thank you for such an informative reply. My mother and I just couldn't figure it out and I wasn't at work for Thursday and Friday. (Mom lives in Port Hardy B.C. and does not have the internet, so she tries to take the info I give her and look in her great big bird book.) The people at work did know what these birds were and agreed totally with you. I hope you don't think I'm a dodo brain, I am just finally noticing birds after all these years now that my sons are in university. The mountain ashes are getting bare now, do they eat seeds at feeding houses at my neighbors?
Honestly, I only discovered what the trees and shrubs in my yard were this year because I hired a knowledgable person to do the physical work. Turns out I was weed whacking day lilies and other nice things trying to get rid of purple loose strife. I will learn, slowly but surely now that my eyes are open (I hope).
There seems to be something weird happening way up north here in Alberta Canada. For the first time in my memory (I am over 50) it appears that they are what looks like Purple Martins swooping and landing in our bare trees covered with hoar frost (more than one hundred, for sure).