Male purple martins are a deep, shiny bluish-purple color, which gives them their name, with a dark bill, feet, and brown eyes. They can appear almost uniformly black in flight.

Purple Martins According to the Audubon Society, Purple Martins are long-distance migrant swallows. They can grow between 18 and 11 cm in length with angular, pointed wings and a forked tail. The ...

The number of purple martins has dropped 78 per cent since 1970, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, which has been keeping population records for more than 50 years.

Purple martins leave the south coast for the Amazon sometime this month. You can see them for a few weeks more around Vancouver from the pier at Rocky Point in Port Moody and Blackie Spit in Surrey.

Purple Martins According to the Audubon Society, Purple Martins are long-distance migrant swallows. They can grow between 18 and 11 cm in length with angular, pointed wings and a forked tail.