According to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, “the Purple Martin is the largest of the eight swallow species that regularly occur in Texas. As elsewhere east of the Rocky Mountains, Purple Martins in Texas have abandoned their ancestral habit of nesting in natural cavities; they breed almost exclusively in backyard birdhouses.”
Friends of Patterson Park installed a Purple Martin Birdhouse near the southeastern corner of the park, next to the volleyball court a few years after 2000. The birds typically arrive in central Texas in February and depart for Brazil in July, and the birdhouse at the park is very busy while they are in town.
Friends of Patterson Park 