Subject: Purple Martins - an exception to the rule?
Date: Jun 20 22:32:02 2000
From: Kelly Mcallister - mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov


Hi Tweeters,

The dogma is something like "Purple Martins in the Pacific Northwest nest in boxes or other
cavities over interior marine waters or, less commonly, over lakes and marshes". I know that there
are records of Purple Martins nesting (in the last decade) in more upland localities but they are pretty
rare.

Today, I visited a home in Spanaway (east of Tacoma Washington) where four pairs of Purple Martins
are nesting in boxes on 4X4 posts in a backyard. There is a pond about 100 yards away and the area
with the boxes is pretty wide open, mostly mowed lawn and vegetable gardens and such. However, it is a
pretty standard subdivision of nicer new homes on lots of probably five acres.

I watched some skirmishes between the martins and the Violet-green Swallows that are trying to
complete their nesting cycle in boxes in the same yard. The two species don't seem to get along.

For me, the sight of Purple Martins in this environment really blew my conceptions of suitable
habitat conditions here. Maybe our martins are evolving to be more like their midwest counterparts.

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington