Birding group provides shelter with a view for Purple Martins

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  • Kendall Britt, right, and Donna Kinney, front, check the birdhouses for Purple Martin nesting activity. The structure is located on the Katy Crossing Trail in San Gabriel Park. (Photos by Kaitlyn Wilkes)
    Kendall Britt, right, and Donna Kinney, front, check the birdhouses for Purple Martin nesting activity. The structure is located on the Katy Crossing Trail in San Gabriel Park. (Photos by Kaitlyn Wilkes)
  • The inside of this particular birdhouse shows minimal nesting activity on top of the pine needles the Williamson Audubon Group put down.
    The inside of this particular birdhouse shows minimal nesting activity on top of the pine needles the Williamson Audubon Group put down.

    Every Thursday around 6 p.m. in San Gabriel Park, the “click, click, click” of a crank lowering the Williamson Audubon Group’s Purple Martin birdhouse echoes over the river, as Kendall Britt checks for new nesting activity. 

    More than 20 gourd-shaped vessels just off the Katy Crossing Trail will hopefully provide a nesting place for the migratory birds, which are entirely reliant on human-made…