Whitpain Township's Bird Town Committee will install a 12-foot Purple Martin tower at Prophecy Creek Park this fall, paid for by a Pennsylvania Game Commission grant, Around Ambler first reported.
The park sits at 205 W. Skippack Pike in Ambler. The tower will hold gourd-shaped nesting boxes for Purple Martins, the largest swallow species in North America. The birds nest almost exclusively in man-made structures and are known for eating large numbers of insects. Adults return to the same nest each summer before migrating to Brazil and Bolivia for winter.
The structure is part of a statewide Game Commission nesting-cavity program that began in 2025. As of June, about 40 purple martin structures and 30 chimney swift towers had been placed across Pennsylvania, GoErie reported. The commission provides the structures at no cost, but municipalities handle installation.
The structures are free. Stefan Karkuff, an avian recovery biologist with the Game Commission, described the standard unit in June as "an eight-gourd rack that comes on a pulley at the top of a 12-foot tall aluminum pole." Karkuff said in the same interview that the program targets species in decline in Pennsylvania.
Whitpain earned its Bird Town designation from Bird Town PA, which named the township Pennsylvania's 108th Bird Town, Around Ambler reported. Bird Town PA President Heidi Shiver presented the Board of Supervisors with two street signs marking the achievement. Upper Dublin, Lower Gwynedd and Horsham townships also hold the designation.
The township said it needs volunteers to help monitor the martins once the tower goes up. Prophecy Creek, which runs through the park, is considered the healthiest creek in the Wissahickon watershed, according to Wissahickon Trails.
Residents who want to volunteer can email [email protected].
Upcoming
- Saturday, Sept. 26: Whitpain Community Festival at Montgomery County Community College. The Bird Town Committee will have a table with a bird-related raffle and educational activities.
