Cincinnati area Roost

[e p jones]

About 5 miles (as the crow flies) from downtown Cincinnati, the Winton Lake Harbor roost is active mid July thru late August, and contains a "few thousand" Purple Martins. In addition, some feed over the lake virtually all day.
Winton Woods County Park, created in 1939, now contains 2465 acres and is within 90 minutes of Lexington, Louisville, Indy, Dayton, and Columbus. Go to: "www.greatparks.org" for maps and a complete description.
There is a floating boathouse with both canoes and paddle boats for rent. The park is open 365 days--dawn to dusk. There is a visitor center, observation tower playgrounds, camping, and sheltered picnic areas as well as hike/bike trail, horse trail, and nature trails.
The roost has been active for a number of years and usually both Harper Meadows (south lake side) and the Boathouse (north side) have excellent viewing areas.
Super facility that is "PM friendly."

[Laverne]

and contains a "few thousand" Purple Martins.[/u]

I get the idea you are "minimizing" your numbers.

Does anybody have any guidelines for us to follow on estimating the number of Purple Martins at these roosts?

I can't tell the difference between 50,000 and 100,000 - there might as well be a "million" - which is what we often say...

Does anybody know???

[Al Denton]

Laverne, I can't figure how they're coming up with these numbers either. I've been to big roosts, and my estimate is probably off by thousands if not a hundred thousand. A roost like Manns Harbor is a little easier. You can get a close estimate by counting birds sitting on one bridge span and multiply times spams used. But that give you just a rough guess. Martins in trees or brush make it tough. I think it's a wild guess on some of these roosts. Maybe even a little exaggerating Al