Kelly, Thanks for the details on current known breeding sites for martins in
Washington. It's far more than I had imagined. Looks like a good project for
every Audubon chapter in western Washington - to initiate a nest box project
for martins! A vision - 2,500 pairs by 2010!

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA

>Tweeters,
>
>In response to Andy's question about purple martins in Washington, I have
>summarized what has been entered to the Natural Heritage database to date.
>Most are post-1980 nesting records though a few are much older. The
>Department of Fish and Wildlife has not attempted a population estimate and
>the existing data would make such an estimate a bit of a wild guess. I have
>not seen any information that would lead me to believe that purple martins
>nest in eastern Washington. However, the nest record on the Columbia River
>near Underwood could be argued to be an eastern Washington nest record. I
>will hold out until we get one a few miles further east in Klickitat County.
>We actually have an old nest report from behind the Ranger's house at Ginkgo
>Petrified Forest State Park (in an elm tree), but I could not track down the
>observer and believe it to be in error.
>
>The vast majority of purple martin nests are in bird boxes mounted over
>water. Natural cavities in pilings sticking up out of the water comes in
>second (purple martins also will nest under metal cones atop pilings and
>orange traffic cones placed atop pilings..ugly). Natural cavities in snags
>are uncommon places to find purple martins and I am skeptical of the
>accuracy of a couple of our records that are a great distance from large
>water bodies (I didn't check the sources to see if I could judge observer
>reliability).
>
>Those observant Tweeters who have been following this thread will notice
>that the list included here does not have some of the locations posted to
>this list. These locations will be added. This is one of the strengths of
>Tweeters. It helps build a more complete information base for such things
>as breeding distributions. I am posting this list in the hope that others
>will post information from their own observations.
>
>Kelly McAllister
>Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
>alleyes at mail.tss.net or
>mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov
>
>
>Washington State Purple Martin nesting locations by county
>
>CLALLAM COUNTY
>
>Sequim Bay
>
>CLARK COUNTY
>
>Columbia River at Vancouver Wash., 9-12 pairs
>
>Washougal, 2 pairs
>
>COWLITZ COUNTY
>
>Silver Lake, west end
>
>GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY
>
>Hoquiam, Grays Harbor
>
>ISLAND COUNTY
>
>Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, Campers Haven, 2-3 pairs
>
>JEFFERSON COUNTY
>
>Quilcene Bay
>
>Port Ludlow, 2 pairs
>
>Crane Point on Port Townsend
>
>KING COUNTY
>
>Beneath Yesler St Bridge, Seattle (old record)
>
>Bon Marche Department Store, Seattle (old record)
>
>Lake Sammamish, north end
>
>Attic vent of home north of Shilshole Bay (just north of Meadow Point)
>
>KITSAP COUNTY
>
>Driftwood Cove on Colvos Passage
>
>Pipes and gun barrels of Navy boats in Bremerton
>
>North side of Port Blakely, Bainbridge Island
>
>North of Silverdale bay
>
>LEWIS COUNTY
>
>Snag along Bunker Creek Northwest of Adna (this one sounds suspicious, quite
>atypical)
>
>MASON COUNTY
>
>West end of Skookum Inlet, 1 pair
>
>Totten Inlet near the mouth of Kennedy Creek
>
>Simpson Log Dump in Shelton
>
>Northeast corner of Oakland Bay, a pair
>
>Mouth of Skokomish River on Hood Canal, 1 pair
>
>PIERCE COUNTY
>
>Nisqually Lake, Fort Lewis, 1 pair
>
>Johnson Marsh and other nearby marshes, Fort Lewis, many pairs
>
>Dailman Lake, Fort Lewis
>
>Farrell Marsh, Fort Lewis
>
>Titlow Beach, old Ferry Terminal
>
>under overhang of old Pantages theater, Tacoma (old record)
>
>Gig Harbor boat basin
>
>Browns Point County Park, 1 pair
>
>Hylebos waterway, Tacoma
>
>Tall snags in burned area, Fort Lewis
>
>SAN JUAN COUNTY
>
>Cady Mountain, San Juan island, several pairs in cavities of snags
>
>Mount Dallas, San Juan island
>
>Marsh Hill Wildlife Haven, north of Trout Lake, San Juan island
>
>Deadman Bay vicinity, San Juan island
>
>Waldron Island
>
>SKAMANIA COUNTY
>
>Columbia River near Prindle
>
>Columbia River near Beacon Rock
>
>Columbia River near Underwood
>
>SNOHOMISH COUNTY
>
>Nest box at residence in Everett, Pinehurst vicinity (another suspicious
>record because of distance from water)
>
>THURSTON COUNTY
>
>Budd Inlet, Butler Cove, north of Olympia
>
>Budd Inlet, East Bay/KGY radio
>
>Budd Inlet, Percival Landing
>
>Budd Inlet, West Bay Marina
>
>Eld Inlet, Madrona Beach
>
>McAllister Creek mouth at dock
>
>Henderson inlet, South Bay log dump, many pairs
>
>Eld inlet, west of Young's Cove
>
>Budd inlet, Berverly Beach dock
>
>Budd inlet, Dept. of Natural Resources Marine Station dock
>
>Eld inlet, Flapjack point piling
>
>Eld inlet, Squaw Point at Evergreen State College Beach
>
>Budd inlet, Boston Harbor marina
>
>Totten inlet, Steamboat island boat moorage area
>
>Totten inlet, pilings with nest boxes a mile south of Steamboat island
>
>WAHKIAKUM COUNTY
>
>Columbia River, pilings at Cathlamet, 2 pair
>
>Columbia River, pilings at Altoona, 2 pair
>
>WHATCOM COUNTY
>
>Lake Whatcom, .4 mile southeast of Bloedel Park
>
>