While still waiting for purple martins to show up in Ballard, Judy Ochs and
I braved converging winds last night and installed 4 new martin boxes and 1
gourd on pilings in the intertidal at the mouth of Boeing Creek, just south
of Richmond Beach. While not an easy place for access, our monthly water
quality monitoring will enable us to keep a hopeful eye on the new housing.
Last night we used a boat at high tide, rather than a ladder at low tide.
Lake Sammamish and West Seattle are two other places I hope to site new
boxes or gourds.
I checked the Ballard site three times in the past two days, but have yet to
find them this season. It's still early, but with the birds already seen at
Bitter Lake, Percival Landing, Tramp Harbor, Luhr Beach and Hermosa Point,
I'm especially anxious. An early arrival can mean less competition from
nesting starlings and house sparrows, which have been anecdotally less
prevalent around our sites.
Meanwhile, it's been a treat seeing the rhino auklets, grebes, loons, and
guillemots in their fine spring plumage; bonaparte's gulls were another
highlight yesterday near Boeing Creek.

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