The Town of Comox and Comox Rotary are partnering together to support wildlife conservation.
Six Purple Martin nesting boxes have been installed at the end of the Comox Pier to help the endangered bird species in the region.
Comox Rotarian and member of their environmental committee John Zuk said they’re thrilled with how smoothly the installation went.
“We hope that these new nesting boxes will provide a welcoming environment for them and contribute to their ongoing recovery.”
Purple Martins are the largest swallow species in North America and are blue listed in British Columbia.
They’ll nest in tree cavities naturally created by woodpeckers, but with the destruction of natural habitat due to timber harvest, urban development, and agricultural expansion, the population has been sharply declining.
Efforts to restore the population through nesting boxes have been ongoing since the 1980s, with the population having increased to approximately 1,300 breeding pairs across the region.
The species plays an important role to the local ecosystem, controlling insect populations by feeding off things like dragonflies, moths, and horseflies.
The new boxes at the Comox Pier were placed to help attract returning Purple Martins in late spring to early summer during their breeding season.
The project is part of a broader effort to provide artificial nesting sites for the birds, which have become increasingly reliant for their survival.
