Purple Martins at LaBagh thanks to Dennis Marton: My 197th LaBagh Woods bird species
By Jeff Skrentny
Might not seem like much to you, but these photos were a big deal for this observer and the patch I observed them in: LaBagh Woods.
Do you know what bird species this is? The photos aren’t great, I know. Great photos weren’t the point. The point was documenting this bird species for this site, anyway I could.
These are Purple Martins. They are not rare, but of the 214 species of bird species that are generally accepted as confirmed from LaBagh Woods, this particular species has never been documented at LaBagh with a photo or audio recording until I managed these photos on August 4th, 2021. That same day Katy Krigbaum also managed a good ID photo of this species from the trestle at LaBagh.
If you work a patch, and your bird list for that patch is important to you, then you will understand why this was such a big deal. I had never seen or heard this species at LaBagh until 2 days prior, on August 2nd. That day I heard them flying overhead, and saw them between the trees when I was down along the river in the Irene Hernandez area of LaBagh Woods. I knew to be on the lookout for them because Dennis Marton (yes, that is really his name, ironically enough), one of LaBagh’s lead restoration volunteers, noted at least one calling overhead at the end of July. When heard these birds overhead, there was an adult pair and a bird that was begging for food and appeared to be a recently fledged juvenile. These three birds were loud and I heard them way before I saw them. My instinct was to try and get a photo, but through the canopy, that wasn’t happening. It only occurred to me once they were gone that I could have made a more than acceptable audio recording of them easily enough on my iPhone, had I thought to do that.
Still, I was satisfied that I could now add this species as my 197th of the 214 bird species observed at LaBagh Woods. Only 17 more species to go! Of course getting another Wild Turkey on site like Bob Dolgan had earlier this year (right above me, but I didn’t see it), or getting a Ring-necked Pheasant, a Little Blue Heron, or a flyover calling Dickcissel are all going to be rather challenging as I work to complete the LaBagh list. I digress...
After seeing and hearing these birds on August 2nd, I never would have believed I would manage to not only see and hear them again at LaBagh, but manage an ID-able photo of them two days later. We were having one of our summer Wednesday night workdays with about a dozen or so volunteers when I heard them overhead once again. This time I had my camera ready. After I got these shots, I phoned Katy and Kelly to let them know that the martins were flying around LaBagh, as I knew they’d both want to see and hear them for their LaBagh lists as well. They both accomplished that goal before the sun went down August 4th, though they cut it a bit closer than they would have liked. They were debating if they would count heard only Purple Martins on their LaBagh list when the martins gave them a good look with a nice flyover, which is when at least Katy got her photo.
And not only was this my 197th bird species for LaBagh Woods, because it was photographed and peer IDed on iNaturalist, it became the 1341st living thing to be observed and documented at LaBagh Woods. It becomes the 185th bird species documented at LaBagh Woods on iNat. That’s right, we still have 29 species to photograph for LaBagh to get them onto our iNat species list for the site.
It has been a fun summer at LaBagh Woods. As 2021 began, we had IDed 1252 different living things at LaBagh Woods. As of today, August 10th, we have added 95 new species to that list, having now documented and had peer IDed, 1347 living things that call LaBagh Woods home.
Don’t tell me small spaces spaces don’t matter. And don’t tell me that restoring them is a waste of time. When we create, or recreate, or restore natural habitat, wildlife of all kinds return to it. We have seen this, anecdotally, time and time again at LaBagh Woods.
