Basic Information about the Purple Martin Roost in Downtown Tulsa:
From Tulsa Audubon Webpage:
Every summer downtown Tulsa hosts a Purple Martin roost, and this year between 100,000-250,000 birds are present. Purple Martins are highly social birds, and after leaving their nesting colonies form large, communal roosts where they sleep at night prior to and during migration. Downtown Tulsa has had a roost since the early 1980’s. This summer the best vantage point to view the Martins is the top of the downtown Doubletree Hotel parking garage.
Tulsa Audubon is hosting two Purple Martin Roost Watches on Sat. Aug. 15 and Sat. Aug. 22 at 8:15 p.m. We will meet on the top level of the Doubletree Hotel parking garage, 616 W. Seventh St., which provides a perfect overview of downtown Tulsa. You may park on the street and take the elevator to the top level, or park in the garage itself, for which there may or may not be a charge.
On Aug. 15th, everyone is also invited to join TAS members at about 6:00 p.m. at the Seven West Cafe in the Doubletree Hotel to talk about Purple Martins and have dinner.
Thank you to the Downtown Tulsa Doubletree for allowing us to their facility to observe the martins. If you are coming from out of town please call the Doubletree at 918-587-8000 for a perfect location to stay.
August 21st Watch:
I arrived at the parking garage for the Downtown Doubletree at around 7:50 pm; enough time to survey the scene and unload my tripod. To the south one could observe the Purple Martins amassing along the powerlines that are found next to HWY-51. On other nights I have witnessed the groups forming along the powerlines found near the Riverparks (roughly 15th/Riverside).
By 8:10 pm many of the birds (some cursed European Starlings were seen intermixed with the Purple Martins) had begun flying around in large groups inside the IDL (inner-dispersal loop). It seems that the birds slowly close in on their roost (the trees near the Doubletree, in this case) from 8-8:30, feeding all the while on swarms of insects.
Toward the end of the "watch" the groups had begun to concentrate around 7th street, occassionally landing on the tops of the trees. During this period huge clusters of Purple Martins would rush past the onlookers on the parking garage, some coming within mere inches of hitting the spectators. By 8:40pm , most of the birds had found a place to roost for the night.
-SPQ 8/26/2009
