Greetings,

Having heard reports of purple martins at Nisqually and Sauvie Island
yesterday, Kris Baker and I took a look at our martin nest site of the
past two years, around 8pm in Ballard, near the south end of Shilshole
marina.
After about 30 minutes we heard a familiar chirp of a martin, and we
were soon met by a pair of purple martins that were anxious to use the
nest boxes. The boxes had been sealed to block out house sparrows and
starlings, pending the arrival of the martins, so Kris and I rushed up
to Al Vetrov's shop and borrowed a long pole to pull out the plugs on
two of the boxes. The tide was coming in, so I ended up soaking wet, but
it was what had to be done. However, the martins at this point were
ready to turn in for the night, and apparently they just used a cavity
in the south end of the pilings. We'll be checking again later today.
Nine of the eleven boxes are still sealed, and we'll wait for more
martins before opening the others. This is to be the third consecutive
year of martins nesting at this site. It was a great way to celebrate
Earth Day!


Check out our lakes web page!
http://splash.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/lakes/index.htm

Kevin Li
King County Environmental Lab
322 W. Ewing St.
Seattle, WA 98119-1507

Mail Stop: LAB

(206) 684-2344
(206) 684-2395 fax
kevin.li at metrokc.gov