For the past two decades, Nashville has been a crucial destination for North America's largest swallow: the purple martin, which stops off in Music City before migrating to South America for the winter.
The martins have been the source of some controversy in the past, beginning with their arrival at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center back in 2020. With tens of thousands of birds making their temporary home near the Schermerhorn downtown, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation and the Nature Conservancy in Tennessee spent thousands on cleanup in the wake of the purple martins' majesty. The Schermerhorn ultimately removed trees from its plaza to deter the birds.
In recent years, the purple martins have begun using trees near Nissan Stadium as their roosting spot, and this year was no exception. On Aug. 7 and 8, staff photographer Angelina Castillo headed down to Nissan to photograph the legions of martins in their short-term roosting space. See her photos above.
