Purple Martin taken at Sutterville Nesting site in Sacramento

The Sacramento colonies are the largest of all the known bridge nesting colonies in California and Oregon, and they may support one of the largest concentrations of unmanaged martins in the Western United States . Downtown Sacramento is the only location within the Central Valley where martins are known to nest, and of at least 20 urban sites active from the late 1800’s through the 1970’s, Sacramento is the only one remaining (Williams).

These birds were nesting in the weep holes of an overpass.