Tiny purple martin nursed back to health
Purple martins are still being injured and killed on the old Manns Harbor bridge, but one victim recently was nursed back to health and rejoined his flying community in time for the journey to Brazil later this summer.
In spite of flashing yellow lights and a 20 mph “go-slow” zone on the western end of the William B. Umstead Bridge between Manns Harbor and Roanoke Island, some eight to 12 of the purple martins that roost there are killed each day, most likely by passing motorists, according to informal counts taken daily by the Coastal Carolina Purple Martin Society.
The death toll is far less than the number of birds killed before the dawn and dusk speed reduction zone was introduced in 2007. Before then, CCPMS surveys counted as many as 50 birds killed per day. One year the tally was about 3,600 for the summer season (July to September) when, for at least 30 years, more than 100,000 martins from throughout northeastern North Carolina gather to roost under the bridge, fattening up before their 2,600-mile migration to Brazil.
Since the CCPMS was formed in 2006, awareness has risen among local residents, who help spread the word to summer tourists. Among other programs, the society invites people to join Thursday evening “Purple Martin Madness” sessions at the west end of the bridge, not only to witness the spectacle of 100,000 martins coming in to roost after a day’s foraging the local wetlands and farmlands, but also to learn about the history, behavior and human interrelations of the purple martins, known as “America’s Most Wanted Bird.”
After the July 29 evening educational sessions at the bridge, conducted at the brand new BeBop Pier and Observation Platform dedicated by Dare County Commissioners this spring, CCPMS chair Alisa Esposito made her routine check on the bridge to count martins that may have been hit by vehicles. She found six birds killed and one injured.
The injured adult male suffered a deeply bruised wing, but it was not broken. Esposito took the bird to the WREN wildlife rehabilitation center in Edenton for cage rest. There, she said, he was maintained on a diet of wax and meal worms fed to him every hour by clinician Elizabeth Hanrahan, who eventually offered him the opportunity to demonstrate his fitness in a flight cage. After two weeks at WREN, the martin was deemed fit for release.
On Aug. 5, during another Purple Martin Madness session at the new pier, Esposito met two young birders from Mansfield, Ohio. Eight-year-old Zoe Saldana and her sister Ava, 5, were watching the birds with their parents and grandparents, who live in Kill Devil Hills. Esposito asked the girls to help her release the rehabilitated bird to the roost.
The go-slow zone will be in effect at dawn and dusk hours until the martins are gone, which can be anytime between the third week of August until the second week of September. Their migration is timed according to seasonal rainfall and insect population, as well as when the winds are in their favor.
For more information, visit the CCPMS at www.purplemartinroost.com
This story was written and submitted by the Coastal Carolina Purple Martin Society.
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