In 2023, ABAS submitted a $1,000 Collaborative Grant request to the National Audubon Society to purchase a Purple Martin House. The martin house was to be erected in Strawtown Koteewi Park near the lake on the south side of the park. The grant was approved and Hamilton County Parks and Rec ordered a Purple Martin twelve gourd complex which arrived in the fall of 2023. By that time the martins had already migrated south. The gourd complex was erected in March 2024 and within two months it has already attracted nesting Purple Martins. Stop by and observe the martins, at a respectful distance, before they migrate back to South America beginning at the end of July through August.

Photo Courtesy of Chuck Anderson