The Travis Audubon’s Purple Martin Parties are back on. The announcement comes after the organization reached a deal with the property manager of the shopping center where the birds are roosting this year.
The events will now be hosted in a section of Greenlawn Crossing in Round Rock. The change comes after Rassier Properties originally banned Travis Audubon from hosting the annual events at the shopping center and warned of trespassing charges for those who tried to watch the birds.
Since 2009, bird watchers have set up lawn chairs, picnic blankets and umbrellas in parking lots around Austin to watch the purple martins, according to Caley Zuzula, the program manager at the Travis Audubon. Thousands of these birds roost in the area during their migration between North and South America. As the birds return to their roost each evening, it’s considered a spectacle for the hundreds of people who show up to watch the show.
Zuzula said the organization estimates 4,000 people showed up to last year’s parties across multiple weekends.
Each year, the birds roost in a different roost location.
After dining on insects during the day, purple martins socialize before landing in roost trees at the Frontera shopping center in Round Rock in 2023.
Community backlash
Travis Audubon posted the news to its Instagram account, where it received nearly 600 likes and more than 70 comments in 24 hours. People who commented called the decision “dystopian” and “disappointing.”
There were also suggestions to reach out to the property manager of the shopping center and the businesses inside of it.
Robin Resas, who has attended the parties in the past, said the event is a wonderful feat of nature, and the decision to keep people from enjoying it was baffling.
“The people and families I have seen out there have overwhelmingly been considerate, polite, and safety conscious,” Resas said. “Why would you actively turn away good business for the businesses in that shopping center? The increase in foot traffic benefits those businesses financially.”
Following the backlash, Rassier Properties reached out to Travis Audubon to meet and find a solution on Tuesday. Zuzula said details about the upcoming parties will be released Wednesday.
KUT reached out to Rassier Properties for a comment and was referred to Travis Audubon.
Birders relieved that parties are back on
For more than a decade, the Travis Audubon has hosted annual Purple Martin Parties to celebrate the purple-sheened songbirds’ extraordinary aerial behavior.
Sara Parhizkar is a member of Travis Audubon and has been attending since 2019. She said she was “super surprised” by the reversal.
“The decision felt very final and there is not a large window of time to change the decision because the birds are only here for a short time,” Parhizkar said. “However, I’m glad the community voiced their concerns and put some pressure on the property management company to rethink the decision.”
Parhizkar said she personally reached out to the management company to share her concerns. Shelby Orme, a self-proclaimed “birder,” said she was really excited about the change.
“It’s a really rare thing to be able to go and know you’ll be able to see a natural phenomenon like that,” Orme said. “I’m just really excited that the community now has that opportunity again to connect with nature in that way.”
She said it was a neat example of consumer activism working to change the mind of a company.