The evening of Sunday the 16th I was pleased to see three purple martins at
Luhr Beach, at the mouth of McAllister Creek near Nisqually NWR. An adult
male and two females were checking out the various boxes, although one box
was already claimed by a pair of tree swallows. Initially I could only hear
the martins, then I spotted them high in a fir tree on the bluff, joined by
a few red-winged blackbirds

The gourd that I installed last year was broken, perhaps the result of a
rock hurled from the beach. Yesterday the martins would land on the entrance
hole and look confused about the shattered home. I haven't decided on
replacement; another gourd may again be too tempting a target for a
thrower-of-stones. I might go back Wednesday evening at high tide, and work
by canoe. There's another box that needs refurbishing anyway. About nine or
ten boxes are currently there; I assume Jack Davis got this site started,
but I don't really know the history of this spot.

A common loon in bright spring plumage stayed near the fishing pier, and a
number of red breasted mergansers and horned grebes swam a bit further out.

Over at the refuge we saw some very active river otters in the river, wood
ducks just inside the east dike, and a sharpie not far from the
headquarters.

I'm told that martins have also been seen at Tramp Harbor since the 10th,
making for a number of relatively early sightings for the Puget Sound area.
I haven't yet seen them around Seattle, but I did see Caspian terns at pier
91 on Saturday.

Kevin Li
Seattle, WA
e-mail: kevin.li at metrokc.gov