Sacramento's Western Martin Colony
Sacramento's Western Martin Colony
A recent search of THE CONDOR failed to bring out very many facts regarding the nesting of the Western Martin (Progne subis hesperia) in California cities. Grinnell, in his “Distributional List,” describes this bird as “interruptedly distributed as a breeding species along and west of the Sierras, south into San Diego County,” suggesting that it nests in oak and pine regions and in small numbers in towns-as, for instance, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Stockton, and Auburn. Several have written of the colony in Placerville. In my experience, this bird nests in larger colonies in cities than elsewhere and because of the size of the colonies is more conspicuous. A visit to Pasadena any time during the summer discloses large numbers of these birds around the main office buildings of the city. Similarly, Santa Ana has a colony. My mental pictures of scattering nesting in the oak and pine belt bring views of Weed, Siskiyou County, and an old pine stub on Mount Wilson, in the Sierra Madre Mountains, which harbored one pair. This note has been inspired by discovering six Western Martins nest-hunting around the cornice of the Clunie Hotel Building on K Street, Sacramento, on April 24, 1924. A glance skyward showed several other martins in flight above the city. On a visit to Sacramento during the middle of July of last year, martins were very numerous in the downtown district and their chattering was to be heard everywhere. They seemed to swarm about buildings along the alley between J and K streets near . Fourth and Fifth streets. The numerous light-colored birds indicated young out of the nest.
Harold C. Bryant
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, California, May 17, 1924
