Purple Martins Roost Every Summer on Bomb Island on Lake Murray, South Carolina

The purple martins is a migratory bird and is considered one of the larger swallows. You've probably heard of the swallows that return each year to the mission at San Juan Capistrano in California. Those birds are also a type of swallow called the Cliff Swallow. Well the purple martins each summer returns to Lake Murray in South Carolina. The birds at Capistrano get much more publicity than the birds of Lake Murray. You know those Hollywood types. In California it's called a miracle and on Lake Murray a phenomenon. The Martins begin to fly into the area around the middle of July and then they are usually gone by the middle of August.

The birds hang out all around the lake in the summer. Around dusk they begin to fly to what is called Bomb Island. Bomb Island got its name because during World War II it was used by the Doolittle Raiders who flew B-25 Bombers to practice bomb runs in preparation for flying a raid over Tokyo in 1942. It's been said that somewhere between 500,000 to 700,000 birds fly to the island by the end of the summer. Clemson University's NEXRAD system showed what was estimated to be 700,000 birds as they were leaving the island.

It's really quite a sight to see. People vacationing on the lake and the locals enjoy going out to Bomb Island in the evenings and anchoring their boats around the small island to watch the birds come straggling in. It's nice to relax after a day of fishing or boating and just sit and watch the birds and the beautiful sunset. Many people will have dinner on their boats and everyone seems to be having a good time. Sometimes the birds will sit at rest in the trees and then all of a sudden they will swoop up in a large group and fly in unison around the island and then back down to their perches. It seems the birds enjoy their human audience as much as the humans enjoy them.

Lake Murray is surrounded by the cities of Lexington, Irmo, and Chapin South Carolina and is about 15 miles from the state capital of Columbia. If you ever get a chance to visit, be sure to go for a boat ride on the lake and make your last stop of the day at Bomb Island.