Last week I was saddened to hear of the death of Jack Davis, an Olympia, WA
resident who I was fortunate to have had contact with over the past few
years.

Jack was a pioneer in developing purple martin colonies in the Puget Sound
area, and he kindly offered his expertise to anyone interested in the
subject. He started working on nest boxes for purple martins in the late
1960s, and was able to help establish colonies at Woodard Bay (about 70
nesting pairs) and Percival Landing (about a dozen or so boxes). I
understand the Woodard Bay colony to be the largest in the Puget Sound area.
I followed his simple nestbox design a few years ago and was fortunate to
have gotten a pair of martins nesting in Seattle in 1996 and '97. Jack's
success in Olympia gives me hope for more martins in Seattle in the future.

Jack did much more than work on martins, I understand he was also quite the
political activist. My contact with him was limited to numerous exchanges in
phone calls and letters, I never got to meet him in person. I recall him
mentioning that he had also been working on conservation issues in the
southwest, in Utah. Jack was around 80 years old and had been forced to stay
close to home in recent years, in large part to care for his ailing wife,
Ada. His passing isn't really surprising, but I was dismayed nonetheless.
Last winter he generously gave me and some other lucky folks a set of his
slides, depicting his past work with martins and other swallows. He wanted
others to carry on, spreading the word on what individuals could do to
maintain martins, a species that has declined dramatically since a few
decades ago.

Last Friday I went to Woodard Bay around dusk when I got the news about Jack
from one of his friends. There were martins everywhere, so many it was hard
to keep track of them. New fledglings abounded, and I even saw some adults
harrying a bald eagle. It felt good to see his martins thriving. The area
was also noisy with hundreds of harbor seals, a number of great blue herons,
and a great colony of bats.

I would love to hear more about Jack, I really didn't know him very well.
I'm sure there are many more stories out there.

Kevin Li
Seattle, WA