Another Sunday afternoon volunteering at Reifel. Not a huge crowd today, but there have been some interesting birds around of late. The focus of attention today, however, was Purple Martin. In particular the nesting boxes in the northwest marsh as there had been reports recently they may be nesting here. So I made my way out along the outside dyke just beyond the tower. From a few different vantage points you could see the Purple Martin coming to roost on the poles above the nesting box. Eventually I could see the adult female land at the opening of a nest box and exhibit feeding behaviour. While watching this a Peregrine Falcon showed up overhead,
… and the Purple Martin were up harassing it right away. This was the afternoon’s entertainment. As for getting a closer look at the nesting box, it was difficult as they are some distance out in the marsh. As more birders with scopes stopped by, you could see at least two juveniles being fed at the opening in the nest box.
As you can see from this crop, they are just too far away for the camera. The nesting box in question is the lower left one on the right pole (adult present at opening with another atop the pole). What makes all this interesting is that while Purple Martin have been seen at the sanctuary before, this may be the first nesting record.
