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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 18:55:13 06/20/07
The number of Purple Martins arriving each evening at the Davie roost continues to increase; I have no way to estimate a number but I put it at over 10,000. On clear evenings there are only a few around the roost area before sunset but as the sun goes down they begin converging from all directions in ever increasing numbers and fill the sky and power lines near the roost trees. For about twenty minutes, there is quite a show as thousands of Martins wheel overhead and hundreds at a time swarm into and out of the roost area. By twenty five minutes after sunset in the trees in front of the Race Trac gas station are full of chattering Martins and only a only a few stragglers are left on the power lines or in the sky. If the weather is rainy or overcast, the Martins begin arriving earlier. This roost is located in the trees in front of the Race Trac gas station on the west side of Davie Road (SW 64th Ave.) about a quarter mile south of I-595 in Broward County.
There is a staging area around a lake about a mile to the southeast. At least a couple of thousand Martins gather here for a couple of hours before leaving for the main roost at sunset. To reach it from the Race Trac Station go south on Davie Road and turn left (east) onto SW 38th Court, go past the third stop sign, and turn right at the next intersection onto SW 58th avenue, this road will turn left onto SW 39th Street. There is a small park on the right, on the north side of the lake which provides a good view of the gathering Martins.
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