NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For those new to Nashville, the name "Purple Martins" might not mean much, but for those that have been around they know the species has been an expensive and messy problem for the city.
Purple martins are birds that have called the trees outside of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center home, but Mayor Freddie O'Connell has a hopeful solution to make sure they can safely relocate.
The city said chopping down ten final trees here that the purple martins have continued to choose as their annual home. In turn those trees will be replaced with something less attractive to the birds to get them to move a little farther out.
The new species of trees have yet to be released, but it will come at no cost to Metro. This is big because this problem has caused tens of thousands of dollars to try and fix.
Thousands upon thousands of the birds first arrived back in 2020. They were very messy and disruptive, so the symphony had a lot of trees chopped down to try and fix the issue, but it didn't fully work.
Mayor O'Connell's administrations said though this new solution should be the light at the end of the tunnel and that the public safety risk that's annually created outside the Schermerhorn is coming to a close.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
