Nissan Stadium welcomes purple martins

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Every summer in Nashville, the city experiences a phenomenon of nature like none other. The purple martins return to their roosts at sunset between the months of July and August. Nashville has even been declared an “ Urban Bird Treaty City ” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

If you have visited downtown recently, you couldn’t miss them. Tens of thousands of birds descended on a handful of trees.

It almost looks like something out of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds”.

For the past three years, the birds roosted outside the Schermerhorn Center. That created quite a mess, prompting Metro to clean the area nightly. Eventually, they also replaced the trees with a different species.

For 2024, the birds have moved across the river to Nissan Stadium on the river side of the building. With a major concert coming up, stadium maintenance has been cleaning the concourses below the trees.

Staff, including the Titans’ vice president of communications & corporate affairs Kate Guerra, welcome the birds as part of the stadium experience for concert-goers. She and other staff members want to educate people on this amazing marvel of nature.

“We’re going to have some volunteers from the Nature Conservancy Center and some of our wildlife partners here in Nashville to educate people on the Purple Martins and their habits, and also provide some best tips on how to interact with them when they are interacting with humans,” Guerra explained.

Lots of people and lots of noise, luckily, don’t seem to bother these birds! Rachael Payton is a Bird Keeper at the Nashville Zoo, a member of the Urban Bird Treaty, and a member of the Purple Martin Task Force. Payton explained that the purple martins love our company.

“This sub-species that presides in the eastern United States, pretty much almost exclusively likes to be around people, nest around people,” Payton said. “This bird is a perfect fit for Nashville. That’s why they chose the symphony and that’s why they chose the Titans Stadium. The crowds don’t bother them. As a matter of fact, they prefer to be around people when they roost at night.”

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How do staff think they will fair at the this weekend’s concert?

“They seem to be birds that enjoy music and noise,” Guerra said. “They enjoy coming to Music City. So, I hope they enjoy the concert while they’re here. We’ll be singing inside and they’ll be singing outside. So, we’re excited to see that interaction as the concert unfolds.”

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