moon rise for purple martins

A luxuriously full moon rose over Buckley Bay's resident purple martin birds this past month. As the moment of dusk was upon us, the stubbornly grey day that had been dampening our spirits, finally relented and allowed its moody clouds to slip away on a cool end-of-the-day current. As the final light of the day dwindled, the sky blushed deep violet and russet pink, wrapping us in an atmosphere of peace and beauty as soothing as any velvety duvet. I imagined the purple martins tucked snuggly in their little homes, nodding off as the late summer moon ascended in the evening sky so it could keep watch over the sleeping birds.

That evening, while all we weary travellers waited for the ferry from Denman Island to arrive, I remembered some videos I had taken in the exact same spot the previous year. On that summer solstice day in June, 2009, I had arrived early for the ferry and had some extra time to watch the very busy colony of winged martin families go about their day. I grabbed my old Kodak Easy Share camera from the back of the truck and captured some of the martins' calls and their flights back and forth to their human-made "condos" as they fed their hungry chicks. I have collected together those little snippets of videos into the following 5 minute YouTube.

Though far from ideal, my camera's tiny auto focus motor added many mechanical sounds that sharply contrasted with the gorgeous songs of the martins. Oh well, such is life with an instant camera... I am glad, nevertheless, to have had my handy camera nearby so I could capture this day in the life of these purple martins.

I was very lucky when, half way through my video, a man "who really knew his birds" observed my keen interest in the birds and so taught me ways to identify individuals and highlighted some of their intriguing habits. You will hear some of his comments on this video.

By the way, if you look very carefully into the far distance of this video, you will see a shell fisher harvesting clams at low tide.

I hope you enjoy sharing my visit with Buckley Bay's bustling purple martins.

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Image credits: Photo and YouTube video by Jessica at Oceanwood. See my other videos on my Oceanwood Chronicles YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/oceanwoodchronicles?feature=mhum

Oceanwood Chronicles, copyright 2010 - Jessica at Oceanwood. Creative commons attribution, non-commercial sharing only (translation: feel free to quote me in context or use this entry but please always credit me for my work, thanks.) http://oceanwood.blogspot.com/