P.S: It is 3 pages long 🙂

This past weekend, I flew home to Louisiana and was transported to the majestic world of nature. Let us start with the place where I spent eighteen years of my life; my home where I was unaware of the winged beauties (some of them) perching and flying around in my backyard.

Below: Red-Winged Blackbird (Can be found year round in North America)

Male (black with colorful patch) and female (darker brown)

About a month ago, I went on a birding trip in the Atlanta area. We were near a dam and riverbank looking for songbirds and swallows. All of a sudden, I hear a multitude of gasp and a shout of “I see a purple martin!!”. I felt confused and uncertain as to why this bird needed such an introduction, just because I had never heard of it before. I looked through my binoculars and sort of understood why they needed shouts…they are pretty and quite hard to find in the Atlanta area. Fast forward to being in my hometown. My merlin app, while I am in my backyard, says there is one nearby which caused my heart rate to increase. I then ensue on a ten minute walk through my neighborhood to find it. Lo and behold, I see a purple martin birdhouse in another human beings’ backyard. I then talk to myself for the next few minutes questioning how far am I willing to go for birds… I knock on their door at 9am, introduce myself, and mention the bird house. (This wasn’t exactly a stranger…I hoped my brother’s childhood friend’s parents’ still lived there and they did- We talk about nature for the next 30minutes). I will spare you even more background on meeting his parents for the first time after knowing their son for 20 years of my life.

So here it is…the Purple Martin ( a type of swallow).

-Can be found in the midwest all the way to the east coast in the breeding season. Also, they have a decent amount of conservation efforts due to their declining population.

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