Tonight at the Purple Martin roost in downtown Nashville, John Noel discovered
an Animal Pro truck parked in the symphony plaza was waiting to "fog" the trees
holding the purple martins. They had been hired by the symphony because they
claimed it was a public health issue. The small group of birders present (John,
Melinda Welton, Mary Glynn Williamson, Ann Paine, Kim Matthews and myself)
began to frantically make phone calls. I talked to the two people in the truck
and told them the birds were protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty and they
did not have the necessary authority to continue with their plans. I was able
to reach Matt Norman of TWRA who agreed to contact the company and tell them
they could not proceed tonight. They said they would work on a new plan. I have
asked Matt Norman to follow up with them tomorrow and let them know they cannot
be harassed. If any of you have contacts at the symphony or the mayor's office,
please lend your voice so that we can educate the city about the importance of
protecting these birds. We aren't convinced they are out of the woods yet.
Kim Bailey
Nashville
________________________________
From: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
Graham <grahamgerdeman@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2020 9:23 PM
To: tn-bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Bird] Purple Martins - downtown Nashville
8/19/20 - Davidson County
It takes a heck of a lot for me to venture into the Country-covid theme park of
downtown Nashville, but I went to see the Purple Martins coming into roost
downtown in Nashville this evening, and it was spectacular. It was very nice to
run into Melinda Welton and Laura Cook and her family down there. As reported
elsewhere (including on the local news), the Martins are staging all along the
river in the area of the pedestrian bridge by late evening, descending to the
trees in front of and around the Schermerhorn Symphony center by around 8pm. I
suspect the trees around the Titans Stadium and Cumberland Park may also be
full to capacity with them.
It's simply impossible to try to count these kinds of numbers, but I did
attempt it, by first isolating 100 birds on the wires in my binoculars, then
with naked eye counting in blocks of 100, then by 1000. My comfortable estimate
for eBird was 150,000 birds, but if there is a more scientific count made, I'm
fairly sure the actual number is several times higher. I wasn't sure if I
should guess 100k or a million. I would feel confident I was seeing 50,000
birds, and then I would turn to look over another part of the city and they
were like flying ants over the skyscrapers. It was like standing in a Nashville
skyline, Purple Martin 'Snow Globe' that someone was shaking. Truly
exceptional. Best (and only) reason I can think of to go downtown.
Graham Gerdeman
Nashville
