Hi Leslie,

Thanks for the good news on your martins! How many seasons they been nesting
there? What are they nesting in? Perhaps you told me before, but this is
around Commencement Bay, isn't it?

It appears that no martins are nesting anywhere in Seattle this year, the
Shilshole Bay nestboxes have had problems due to house sparrows; I evict
sparrows about twice a month, and had been hoping for some late martin
arrivals. Looks like I'll throw in the towel and seal them up early this
year. Starlings have been hanging around a lot recently but don't seem to
really do much inside the nest boxes.

Maybe next year I'll put up a hollow gourd. I really miss those birds, so
I'm especially happy to read your reports!

Kevin Li

BTW, I got a glimpse of 2 night hawks as I drove I-90 across Mercer Island
last night...

> ----------
> From: Leslie Ann Rose[SMTP:sylph at nwlink.com]
> Reply To: sylph at nwlink.com
> Sent: Saturday, July 11, 1998 3:47 PM
> To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Big Doings on the Beach!
>
> Yahoo! All three of the Purple Martin nesting boxes out in front of our
> home have little grey heads peeking out today. If one were given to
> anthropomor.....oh heck.....allowing human references to extend to avian
> species....one would think they were quite stunned as to the vastness of
> the world beyond their boxes! Dragonflies seem to be the preferred food
> offered by Mom and Dad...or maybe its just a bad day to be a dragonfly.
>
> Also, earlier today at low tide, Greater Yellowlegs out in front poking
> through the mud!
>
> Under the heading of great fun.....Our little Red-tailed Hawk nestling
> has learned to fly. For three days we have been treated non-stop...yes
> I do mean non-stop....to the cries of this excited youngster as s/he
> learns to negotiate the breezes along the top of the ridge about the
> beach. Just when I didn't think it could get any better, the log
> pilings and log hosted three Bald Eagles: 2 adults and on scruffy
> looking youngster.
>
> Let's get back to Birds....Life's a beach!
>
> Leslie Ann Rose
> Tacoma, WA
>