Volume 42, Number 2,
February 1996:
Backyard Birds

Text-only version

ISSUE HOME PAGE

ABOUT THIS ISSUE
- about KSN
- about the author

IN THIS ISSUE
- introduction
- what do you need to go birding?
- some common backyard birds
- house finch
- American robin
- house wren
- European starling
- house sparrow
- black-capped chickadee
- northern cardinal
- ruby-throated hummingbird
- blue jay
- gray catbird
- purple martin
- downy woodpecker
- eastern bluebird
- Baltimore oriole
- American goldfinch
- the Kansas winter bird feeder survey
- acknowledgment
- owls

SLIDESHOW
View all images in this issue.

Backyard Birds
by Marvin Schwilling

PURPLE MARTIN
The male purple martin is entirely blue-black that may appear purple in some lights. It is the largest member of the swallow family and likes to nest in colonies. Thus, they have learned to use the many-roomed apartment houses that we put up for them. Most people get much pleasure in watching the graceful flight of these colonies. In flight, they have a low-pitched gurgling note that helps to identify them.

They arrive from their winter homes early in the spring and are usually heard or seen by late March. Many starve to death or die of exposure when late snows or ice storms cut off their flying insect food supply. They nest only once and as soon as the young have fledged, they gather in huge flocks and leave for their winter home in South America. Just why they migrate so early in the fall is a mystery since there is still an abundant food supply.

Next: Downy Woodpecker