![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A-purple-martin-is-wrapped-in-a-towel-as-it-recovers-from-an-injury-at-CROW.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A purple martin is wrapped in a towel as it recovers from an injury at CROW. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n
The purple \u201cPrince\u201d of his colony has returned to Cape Coral.\n<\/p>\n
A piece of plastic no larger than a few centimeters nearly ended the life of one young purple martin. Weeks later, that same bird soared back into the skies over Cape Coral, rejoining the gourd colony it calls home.\n<\/p>\n
The\u00a0juvenile purple martin<\/a>, who was dubbed \u201cPrince\u201d by his rescuers, was found struggling in a Cape Coral canal in June. Once at the\u00a0Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife<\/a>\u00a0(CROW) on Sanibel Island, veterinarians discovered a piece of plastic embedded deep in the bird\u2019s chest. Because the wound had already begun healing around the foreign object, the plastic had to be surgically removed before the bird could start its recovery.\n<\/p>\n A purple martin recovers at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel after being impaled by a piece of plastic. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n \u201cEven a small piece of plastic can cause serious injuries to wildlife,\u201d says Dr. Rodney Schnellbacher, CROW\u2019s Senior Staff Veterinarian. \u201cAlthough the wound had already begun closing around the plastic, it couldn\u2019t heal properly until the foreign material was removed. After weeks of wound care, rehabilitation, and carefully monitoring the bird\u2019s recovery, we were thrilled to see it healthy enough to return to the wild.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Releasing purple martins, however, requires extra planning.\n<\/p>\n Unlike other birds, which are often released in suitable\u00a0habitat near where they were found, CROW tries to return each purple martin to an established colony.\n<\/p>\n Purple martin colonies exist almost exclusively in intricate manmade birdhouses called \u201cgourd racks.\u201d These racks are suspended white gourds mounted at the top of 12-foot-to-20-foot poles.\n<\/p>\n In Cheryl Anderson\u2019s\u00a0backyard in Cape Coral, four of these gourd racks loom above the canal. Purple martins perch and dart into the hanging numbered white gourds, usually twittering madly. With the help of two CROW volunteers,\u00a0Anderson released CROW\u2019s patient on her property in June, reuniting the martin with the rest of the colony.\n<\/p>\n Cheryl Anderson and Jim Collier have been purple martin landlords for over 50 years. Here they show the gourd racks in their Cape Coral backyard. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n Anderson and her husband, Jim Collier, have been purple martin \u201clandlords\u201d for 50 years and have helped set up other gourd racks around Cape Coral. Anderson quips that neighboring racks are \u201cless than half a mile away, as the purple martin flies.\u201d These separate colonies often mingle together in large roosts each morning and evening.\n<\/p>\n Anderson\u00a0has worked with CROW on past wildlife patient releases, including purple martin releases like this one.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe appreciate all the work that CROW does,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n Since 2013, CROW has treated more than 40 purple martins at its nonprofit wildlife clinic.\u00a0Research indicates the species eats around 262 billion insects\u00a0each year.\n<\/p>\n Anderson watches her purple martin colony roost every morning.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope Prince is out there!\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n Purple martins perch on one of Cheryl Anderson\u2019s four gourd racks outside her Cape Coral home. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n This release represents just one of thousands of patients treated by CROW yearly. In addition to birds like purple martins, CROW rescues, rehabilitates, and releases native and migratory wildlife, such as raccoons, sea turtles, bobcats, and bald eagles.\n<\/p>\n Anyone who finds a wild animal in need of help can call CROW at 239-322-5068. The wildlife hospital is open 7 days a week and is located at 3883 Sanibel Captiva Road on Sanibel Island. For more information, visit\u00a0crowclinic.org<\/a>.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A purple martin is wrapped in a towel as it recovers from an injury at CROW. -COURTESY PHOTO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-349244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A-purple-martin-recovers-at-the-Clinic-for-the-Rehabilitation-of-Wildlife-on-Sanibel-after-being-imp.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Cheryl-Anderson-and-Jim-Collier-have-been-purple-martin-landlords-for-over-50-years.-Here-they-show-.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Purple-martins-perch-on-one-of-Cheryl-Andersons-four-gourd-racks-outside-her-Cape-Coral-home-1.-.jpg\")
<\/p>\n