[02/15/01] Purple martins have been seen in Vicksburg, including on Valentine’s Day in the yard of a North Washington Street resident who courts the bug-eating birds.

Also, late last week, a martin was seen swooping around over a martin house near Powell’s Pawn Shop across from Blackburn Motor Company on Washington Street.

A few martins, perhaps scouts, were seen Wednesday at the home of Edward McMullen, 5220 N. Washington, his daughter said. McMullen has three martin houses and has been a host for the swallows for 35 years.

Warren Pace, on the sales force at Blackburn, reported seeing the martin.

Martins are popular birds in Vicksburg, given credit for reducing the insect population as they feed on the wing. In normal years, the birds start returning from their migration to South America in late January or early February, moving back into the “apartment houses” hundreds of local people provide.