Subject: Gig Harbor Purple Martins
Date: Jul 12 13:38:23 1996
From: Scott Ray - scray at wolfenet.com


>
>Someone in Everett (sorry I don't know who) has installed at least four
>boxes on pilings in the Port of Everett area just north of the 10th Street
>Boat Launch parking lot.


One spring day in 1993 while fishing from the docks in Gig Harbor with my
two boys, we noted 2 pairs of Purple Martins searching for nest sites. We
sped home and built a 3-unit martin box and were back with our canoe an hour
later nailing it to an old piling at the north end of the harbor. In less
than 10 minutes one pair had entered the box and then bred there that
summer. I don't know if they still breed there or not.

I've always thought that if someone put up boxes near Gorst in Kitsap County
that martins would breed there too.

We were surprised at how quickly they found our box.

Scott