A conservation film about Purple Martins. Presented with Waterloo Region Nature
Presented with Waterloo Region Nature and the Bird Friendly City Initiative
What we do at home affects what we do to the world. Follow one man’s journey chasing America’s favorite backyard bird halfway around the world and back.
After millions of years of evolution, treacherous migrations, and forming a unique relationship with humans, North America’s largest swallow species, the Purple Martin, has managed to become almost completely dependent on man-made nesting structures to nest & rear their young. Captain Zach Steinhauser has taken it upon himself, after spending years guiding folks to North America’s largest Purple Martin roost, to chase these birds across their range to understand exactly how this species put themselves in this position and discover a lost culture of bird-loving enthusiasts across the Purple Martin’s range. Zach’s journey takes him across the western hemisphere from the Great Lakes to the Amazon Rainforest all the way to the Sonoran Desert making unexpected connections at every turn.