Purple martin

Progne subis

For such small birds, purple martins can provide huge amounts of enjoyment for Kansas wildlife watchers. Through the spring and summer, it’s fun to watch the members of the swallow family with their tips and turns, fast dives and climbs as they feed on insects in the sky.

Better, is to watch the birds as they amass by the thousands this time of the year in downtown Wichita as they ready for their annual migration to Brazil. This year’s communal roost is in Old Town, between First and Second streets, just west of Washington Avenue. Martin experts predict there will be more than 20,000 martins, arriving overhead at about 8:30 p.m., using a short line of ornamental trees this week.

Some serious birders have compared the quality of the wildlife show in downtown Wichita to almost anything they’ve seen at such famous and remote wetlands as Cheyenne Bottoms and the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

But people need to take advantage of the show while they can, because within a few weeks most of Kansas’ birds will be on their way to wintering grounds in South America. That flight includes young martins that only hatched a few weeks ago, and may have only been flying for a few days.

The first of the birds to return in the spring, to scout out potential nesting structures, usually arrive in mid-March and will be some of the oldest males in the flocks.

This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 7:11 AM with the headline "Purple martin ."