Each July, the purple martins in Central Texas leave their nesting boxes and nesting gourds and join together at a common roosting site at Highland Mall prior to their migration to South America. During the day, the martins spread out to forage returning in the evening to live oak trees north of Highland Mall near the Wells Fargo Bank.
People start to gather between 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to watch the martins come in. On Friday evenings and Saturday evenings, Travis County Audubon has an information table. Between 8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. the numbers of birds in the air increases dramatically. They fly in circular patterns, dispersing and then reforming into large fluid groups of birds. A Texbird post is estimating that when all the martins have arrived for the night there are 600,000 birds roosting this year.
Between 9:00 and 9:15 the martins are settling into their positions and there are only a few birds repositioning themselves.
Soon the swarm of martins will be gone for the season.
This was one of the most spectular sights of nature that
I have ever witnessed. Incredible.
Cindy
It was SO much fun to see this enormous group of birds. I am looking forward to watching them again next year.