Hungry Mouths

Newly minted hatchlings waiting expectantly for parents to return with a few morsels. These are purple martin chicks at the entrance to a plastic gourd. Purple martins are a type of swallow which relies on humans for their housing and consequently numbers are under pressure.

Unlike the tree swallows featured yesterday, martins feed on insects high in the air. When approaching the colony, they take to the air en-masse in a great cacophony of sound, circling overhead for a few minutes before returning.