[Birdtalk] Purple Martins and a Flycatching Sapsucker

[Kristin Purdy]

Somebody schedule an intervention! I'm addicted to Purple Martins!

Friend Scott Baxter saw Purple Martins flying over Dry Bread Pond (just 
barely in Cache County from Weber) on Saturday, and I couldn't leave that 
stone unturned. I visited the spot this morning (SR-39, the Monte Cristo 
Highway, at mile 41.1) and came across the birds perched in the tops of dead 
aspens on the left as soon as I turned off the highway. And I thought it was 
going to be tough. I wasn't even out of my truck yet when I saw them.

I observed for a couple hours and saw at least seven birds, six female-types 
and one adult male, and two nest cavities. At least two of the female types 
and the male are feeding at the same cavity. The second cavity didn't have 
as much activity and I never saw an adult enter carrying insects. Perhaps 
that brood hasn't hatched yet.

A lovely male Rufous Hummingbird hummed in the undergrowth as he fed on 
Indian Paintbrush. Every time he dipped his bill into a blossom to feed, the 
blossom nodded gently with his motion.

Best birdwatching of the day came while watching a skilled female Red-naped 
Sapsucker flycatch repeatedly and make many trips to her nest cavity. This 
gal was good. Her movement while catching winged insects was similar to that 
of Cedar Waxwings. She stationed herself in the dead aspen tops near an open 
area and sallied out (usually up, above her perch) to intersect flies. I 
watched her with binoculars and could see her intersecting the flight path 
of various black dots. She never missed. The bird often ate the first bug 
she caught in a particular flycatching session, then went back to gathering 
an additional five or so flies.

Because she always took off in the same direction, I followed her and 
eventually found her nest cavity with babies peeping inside at least a tenth 
of a mile away from the flycatching site. Her mate was feeding the babies, 
too, but he seemed to be delivering ants and he always left in a different 
direction. I also noted that the female never made a stop at a set of sap 
wells to soak the prey before delivering them to the nest cavity.

Following her was totally worth the sodden pants I earned from hiking 
through the Mountain Bluebell and Western Coneflower understory that was 
soaked with heavy dew from last night. Then, of course, my pants and shoes 
got covered with dust from the loose earth the ground squirrels excavate 
under the wildflowers. I was one big dirtball by the time I left, but happy 
about spending the time with the cavity nesters.

Kris