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Patti Muzny, newsletter editor

Patti's Chirpings

Summer seems to be making an attempt at riding into the sunset, but not very fast or very far.  There are a few obvious signs – the berries on the pyracantha bush are beginning to show their potential to become bright orange.  Our Purple Martins have stopped making their occasional fly-bys and our hyacinth bush is bursting with lavender blooms and deep eggplant-colored beans.  One lone bloom has popped out on the purple clematis.  Hummers are regularly visiting my backyard feeder and perching nearby to stand guard against any and all interlopers.  

A Northern Harrier made a quick pass over our yard on August 29^th – quite unusual for our city habitat.  While I have been engrossed in painting the outside of our home, there have been a few distractions.  The neighborhood Mississippi Kites have been soaring overhead and calling.  Their high-pitched call always makes me pause with the paintbrush and see where they are.  Maybe the house would get painted a little more quickly if the kites didn’t look so elegant as they dip and soar over my head.

The Bewick’s and Carolina Wrens are calling, along with the ever-present begging calls of the young Cardinals.  Every once in a while I get scolded by the Mockingbird and sometimes the Jays corner something in the neighborhood and the tattling begins.  A couple of Killdeer joined in the chorus as they flew past the house.  

I am still feeding House Sparrows, Rock Pigeons, Doves and blackbirds, and still hoping for a Eurasian Collared, White-winged or Inca Dove.  No luck so far.  

The resident garden-munching wild bunny grew up, disappeared for a while, and was replaced with another tiny little clone that is now in the teenage bunny years.  As a tiny bunny, it was totally unafraid of our vocal and active granddaughters or me.  Several times I could have reached down and picked it up. I think it will always be a battle between Peter Rabbit and me for garden privileges.   

One day I looked out to see a squirrel hanging from one toe above the metal bird feeder that will close if a heavier bird or rodent tries to eat from it.  Time after time, the squirrel would climb the trellis, hang by a toenail, try to get to the front of the feeder, and fall to the ground below.  At first I thought we had one hard-headed and dim-witted squirrel, but then I wondered if it had figured out some way to tap the feeder on its way down to earth and knock out a seed or two.  That’s probably what it was doing, although I couldn’t actually see it eat a seed.

By Patti Muzny

By the end of July, the Purple Martins around the Muzny martin houses are seldom seen or heard.  Maybe once a week or so, if I’m home to listen, 2-3 of them will soar overhead and sometimes land on their house and chortle their farewell greetings.  I miss them!  

I knew martins historically gathered around lakes before embarking on their annual migration in late summer.  What I didn’t know was that martins also gather in large numbers in metropolitan inner city areas.

Shelly Harris, a birder who lives near Norman , posted a message to Okbirds that she had found a large Purple Martin roosting site at the corner of NE 13^th and Phillips.  She found the roost site from studying radar images and driving in the area and following the martins. She reported that thousands of martins came in each evening to compete for nesting space in a few trees near the Oklahoma Allergy Clinic and on the sides of this building.  

Nancy Vicars and I took time out on a Thursday evening to check out this phenomenon.  We arrived around 7:45 PM , and visited with other curious onlookers, including our own Margaret Kletke, who works at the clinic, while scanning the skies for incoming martins.  Even K-4 TV and reporter Cherokee Ballard, were awaiting the promised spectacle. Soon we began to see a few come in and circle overhead.  A large flock of obnoxious starlings was beginning to covet the martin’s preferred roosting site, and there was much annoying starling-shrieking going on. 

In a few more minutes, the sky overhead began to “rain” martins.  Not only was the sky overhead peppered with martins, a scan with binoculars in any direction toward the horizon was also peppered with incoming martins.  They would circle a while, then suddenly a large wave of martins would zoom low and dive over our heads toward the trees and the sides of the allergy clinic. It was as if a giant funnel had sucked them out of the sky and into the roost site!   

Estimating their numbers was not one of my areas of expertise, but there were thousands.   

On the following Sunday evening the entire Muzny clan, including the two granddaughters, decided to see if the martins were still coming, after a strong cool front and rain on Saturday.  

Yes, the martins were still coming, and I think the numbers had increased.  While Sam and Tim tolerated our enthusiasm, Brian, Amy, the girls and I were still fascinated with the sight.  Sydney, our 6 year-old, bounced up and down from the sidewalk to the parking lot and managed to get in trouble and was banished to the vehicle for getting too close to 13^th street, but Amy, Brian and I decided to walk across the street to the side of the allergy clinic building.   

While the girls lounged on the hood of our truck, we observed the martins in the gathering darkness from only a few feet away.  Watching the birds compete for the limited branches of the trees was interesting and we were able to pick out a few adult males among the mostly young and female-appearing martins.   

As we started back across the street to our vehicle, some of the birds flew back out of the tree and left a few deposits on me and on Amy.  The girls’ best entertainment was when they learned their mother had martin poop on her toe, and that their granny had a little blob on her arm!  (Sam Muzny’s suburban fared far worse, tho!)