Oregon Wildlife Institute - Conserving wildlife through research, planning, and education

I went out to the Dunn Forest purple martin colony for one final evening check last week.   I didn’t see a single martin or even a violet-green swallow along Tampico Road or the clearcut where we had been observing them all summer. The dogs and I then headed up the hill on the 200 Road where I heard the familiar bubbling twitter of a purple martin.  It was a juvenile that had probably fledged late and now was apparently the last swallow in the Forest this summer.  There was a strong west breeze that this young swallow was already navigating expertly. She was gliding in an almost stationary position just above the Douglas-fir saplings.  The fledgling was conserving her energy while winged termites and dragonflies were served to her on the wind. I watched her for 15 minutes while my dogs foraged on low-hanging blackberries and occasionally darted into the brush for warm-blooded prey (without success, fortunately).

Joan and I both had a creepy-crawly sensation within minutes of banding the first hatchling martin this summer. Then we noticed waves of mites crawling up our arms. After banding a couple of birds, we had them up our sleeves, in our hair, and on our faces. Fortunately, we were able to rid ourselves of them later that afternoon with a shower. The hatchlings have to suffer these parasites in their nest for weeks. Mites, flies, and other ectoparasites pose a serious risk to nestling songbirds some seasons.