Sad news today about the Purple Martin roost in Chantilly (western
Fairfax County). We arrived at 8:20 PM ready to count birds. What we
encountered was a recently cleared field and a big pile of dead brush
and a bulldozer ... where the bamboo stand used to be.
We stayed around until 8:50 PM and scanned the sky. Several flocks of
robins and red-winged blackbirds flew by, in the 5 to 30 range each;
not a single Purple Martin in sight across the whole sky. Also, not a
single Starling or Cowbird - those were the two other prominent
species that shared the bamboo last year with the Martins at night.
Recall we counted in excess of 1,000 Martins roosting in the bamboo on
several occasions during July 2009; and over 500 Martins in one flock
circling over the bamboo on July 7th this year.
Of course I'm wondering where the Martins went after the bamboo was
killed. Depending on how you read the clues, it looks like the bamboo
was sprayed and killed before clearing. I had theorized that the car
dealership on Route 50 attracted the Martins to feed over all the
bright lights. But there was no sign of them feeding there tonight.
- Steve Johnson
Fairfax, VA
