Hi Gene,

I think these are females and year old males; the NGS guide really doesn't
show them very well, in my opinion. The Stokes Guide and the Audubon Master
guide have photos, and also mention the grey nape and undersides that
females and immatures have. Two and three years ago I had pairs breeding
here, and upon fledging it suddenly became a real challenge for me to
distinguish females from their offspring. I wouldn't expect fledging to
happen around here until late July, especially with this cool weather.

It seemed to me that some of these Ballard birds were slightly blotched on
their undersides and might be males from last summer, while others were
females that are a solid grey. Two birds had leg bands, and I assume these
were banded by WDFW last year. WDFW intends to start banding this season in
about 2 weeks.

Uncertainty in their flight could be due to the fact that it's Ballard
(Ballard is famous for its uncertain drivers!).

This morning I checked the inside of some of the boxes and found just a
trace of grass in some boxes, no twigs or clam shells like I've seen at
Woodard Bay; so I can't say they're very far along with nesting, if that's
what they're doing. Recently I checked on martins at Nisqually and at
Woodard Bay, and I also had an impression that they weren't very far along.
They were sitting out, or were out foraging, but didn't appear to be
incubating, nor feeding young.

The tree swallows that were to the north end of the pilings appear to have
fledged. I removed one nest of House Sparrows from low box on the south end.

I keep a close watch on these Ballard martins, so we'll see what happens;
last year they weren't present here after about June 1, but the previous two
years there were successes.

Kevin Li
King County Environmental Lab
322 West Ewing St.
Seattle, WA 98119

(206) 684-2344

Visit our Lakes website:
http://splash.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/lakes/index.htm


> ----------
> From: Eugene Hunn[SMTP:hunnhome at accessone.com]
> Sent: Thursday, July 01, 1999 6:38 PM
> To: Li, Kevin
> Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: RE: Purple Martins at Shilshole
>
> Kevin,
>
> So what do you think those buff-fronted, pale-collared dark-capped martins
> are, if not juveniles. They certainly don't look like immature (2nd
> summer)
> males nor females, judging by my NGS field guide. They certainly couldn't
> be
> pairs.
>
> Gene Hunn.
>
> At 09:17 AM 7/1/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >I've observed only one adult male visiting briefly here this season, the
> >rest have been females and sub-adult males. I'm not always comfortable in
> >making distinctions between females and sub-adult males unless I'm really
> >close. I've seen various numbers of martins here in the last 5 weeks or
> so,
> >but just in the last week or two they seem to be settling down
> consistently
> >into the same three boxes at dusk.
> >
> >Last night and other recent evenings I've seen what appear to be three
> >pairs; one or two individuals I think are banded (at least there were
> that
> >many seen last week, when I checked the boxes during one of my many house
> >sparrow evictions.)
> >
> >I can send jpgs to those interested and capable of handling them.
> >
> >
> >Kevin Li
> >King County Environmental Lab
> >322 West Ewing St.
> >Seattle, WA 98119
> >
> >(206) 684-2344
> >
> >Visit our Lakes website:
> >http://splash.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/lakes/index.htm
> >
> >
> >> ----------
> >> From: Eugene Hunn[SMTP:hunnhome at accessone.com]
> >> Reply To: hunnhome at accessone.com
> >> Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 7:07 PM
> >> To: Kelly Mcallister
> >> Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> >> Subject: Re: Purple Martins at Shilshole
> >>
> >> I judged them to be juveniles because they had a buffy white forehead
> and
> >> nape, giving a strong capped effect and seemed a bit unsure of their
> >> wings.
> >> Plus there were six all together and no immediate signs of adults.
> >>
> >> Gene.
> >>
> >> At 03:46 PM 6/29/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >On Sun, 27 Jun 1999, Eugene Hunn wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Just ran out to Shilshole (West Seattle) to check for the martins
> and
> >> >> counted six juveniles perched on or near their boxes, occasionally
> >> >> chortling.
> >> >
> >> >Young-of-the-year Purple Martins already? Seems about 3 weeks early.
> >> >
> >> >Kelly McAllister
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >
>