Purple Martin

About the Purple Martin

The Purple Martin is North America's largest swallow and probably its most beloved. Adult males are a deep glossy blue-black that flashes purple in the sun; females and young birds are duskier with pale bellies. Their rich, liquid gurgling overhead is one of the defining sounds of a Texas spring.

No other wild bird is so completely tied to people. East of the Rockies, martins nest almost exclusively in the houses and gourd racks we put up for them, a partnership that goes back to Native Americans hanging hollow gourds long before European settlement. A thriving martin colony is a piece of living tradition, and "landlords" take the job seriously.

Texas scouts arrive shockingly early -- the first males show up in late January -- and colonies buzz through the spring until the young fledge. In late summer, martins gather into enormous staging roosts before the long flight to Brazil. My photos come from Central Texas colonies, including birds at Lake Creek Trail and Inks Lake, plus a Toledo Bend colony in East Texas.

Martin colonies are the friendliest bird photography there is: constant traffic, predictable perches, and birds wholly used to people. Evening light on a glossy male turns that blue-black plumage into liquid metal.