Todd,

This is great news! I've watched King County's martins dwindle to nothing
with a great sense of frustration. It's good to know there may be a
solution. Keep up the good work.

Gene Hunn.



At 06:33 PM 10/7/98 -0700, you wrote:
> ================= Begin forwarded message =================
>
> From: TET31964 at aol.com (Todd Tannery)
> To: WA-RAINIER at list.audubon.org
> Subject: Re: Purple Martin Article
> Date: Mon, 14 Sep
>
>
> Michele, The following is my contribution to the next news letter....
>
>
> Purple Martins
>
> Well, it was a banner year for Purple Martins down at the Hylebos Mudflats
> this year. As you may be aware, this is the third year we've been activly
> monitoring and adding to the colony. The original sight had a total of
7 old
> wooden boxes with slotted starling proof holes. In 1996 we added 12 new
> boxes; four wooden style and eight made of white interior PVC piping.
White
> interiors are known to discourage Starlings at nest sights so, I
thought I'd
> give the idea a try. I wanted also to make them of something long
lasting and
> weather proof. A day at the hardware store led me to a new innovation.
PVC
> tubing. These modified 6" OD pipes cut to 1 foot lengths with end caps
and a
> 2 " hole work wonderfully. The Martins that first year took to them
without
> hesitation. From the 12 new boxes that year, 5 were used. Bringing the
> total martin box usage number to 10 (5 original boxes were also used). In
> 1997 we added more boxes of the PVC design. That Summer, of 37 we had
a total
> of 18 boxes being used. Starlings were still not a problem. This year the
> grand total of boxes was pushed up to 48 boxes. We had 28 pair using 28
> boxes. The estimated total of fledgings is between 75-100 young. What a
> significant number!
>
> What is even more exciting is that the birds, in many cases were using
boxes
> that were next to other nesting pairs on the same pilings. I think it is
> encouraging to see that our Western race of Martins are accepting "closer"
> nest proximity than once thought. With plans to erect more boxes in
the years
> to come, suitable areas are not in great supply. Should anyone know of an
> area that has pilings or tall posts out of the water on the sound or
river or
> lake, please let me know. I would be eager to investigate the options.
>
> Todd Tannery
>
>
>
>