8x10 Oil on LIght Walnut
 
As you drive through the countryside, have you seen multiple gourds hanging in a group?  These are probable homes for purple martins who keep the insect population at a minimum.  He is a dark purplish blue and in flight he may look like a starling.  But he belongs to the swallow family with their typical swallow flight, short glide alternating with rapid flapping.  He lives in the eastern part of the US but unfortunately the numbers of purple martins are declining.