There seems to be a generally held belief that early arriving Purple Martins (Progne subis) are vulnerable to perishing from exposure or starvation as a result of late winter cold spells. Living on a farm two miles west of Jacksonville in northeast Alabama, which was among the hardest hit areas by the winter storm of ’93, gave me an opportunity to observe first hand the effect this storm had on a colony of early martins. I was able to get an exact count ofthe individuals that went to roost on the evening of 12 March, the night the storm hit, and an accurate count of the survivors four days later.
Author: Bill Summerour
Volume Number: 40 Year Published: 1993
Issue Number: 1
Page Number: 7
Link to article: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1993/Vol. 40 No 1 1993_p7-9.pdf
Link to the full issue of BirdLife: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1993/Vol. 40 No 1 1993.pdf
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