\\\\-.___ /\___/\ ___.-////
<_/ | O O | \_>
|___V___|
This message is being forwarded to Tweeters (by Dan Victor) because the
original sender is *not* subscribed. Please copy the email address below
with any responses.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 09:34:21 -0700
From: Stan Kostka (lynnandstan at earthlink.net)

On 19 May of this year I confirmed a reported sighting of a pair of purple
martins at Hermosa Point on Tulalip Bay. Male and female, both adult
second year, they were roosting and perhaps intending to nest in an old
rotten piling just offshore. The piling was hollow and open to the sky,
with an entrance into an old woodpecker cavity very close to the waterline
at the highest tides. In an effort to increase their chances of
successfully fledging young, nesting boxes were installed on May 22.

Unbelievably there were six martins there that morning, and they began
entering and exiting the first boxes we put up before we had finished them
all. More martins arrived soon. Six nests were built. Five pairs nested.
Eighteen eggs were laid in clutches of two to five. The first eggs hatched
between July 27 and 31, and fourteen eggs were hatched by August 7. In an
effort to reduce parasitism, we changed out nests on August 21, throwing
out mites, lice, fleas, and potentially lethal blowfly maggots. Two
nestlings were found dead at this time, evidently the result of
inexperience on the part of their sub adult parents, since no blowfly
maggots or pupae were found in that nest. The first confirmed fledging was
27 August, although I suspect it happened a couple days prior.

On the morning of August 31 fourteen adult martins were perched at the
site, along with the twelve young confirmed in their boxes. All young
were confirmed fledged on September 12 when the boxes were last checked.
The last confirmed feeding and fecal sac removal was September 8.

On September 13 sixteen martins formed up over the nestsite at dusk and
roosted, some of them into boxes that had been unused all season. I was
glad to be involved in a part of this birds recovery. The real credit for
this success goes to all the people who have been doing purple martin
recovery work in this region both the US and British Columbia in past
years.

Stan Kostka
Arlington Washington
mailto:lynnandstan at earthlink.net