re: Purple Martins - an exception to the rule?Kevin and Purple Martin Aficionados,

As a resident of Eastern Washington where Purple Martins are virtually unknown, I just want to say a hearty "Thanks" to Kevin and the many others in Western Washington who are at the forefront in the "Campaign to Bring the Martins Back." Over the past five years, I have visited various birding areas in the eastern U.S and am always very pleased to encounter Purple Martins on these trips. Besides being so very beautiful, they have a marvelous twittering and bubbling repetoire, are confiding around humankind, adding charm and grace to any neighborhood where they take up residence. Their migration is also interesting; as they are amongst the earliest returning spring migrants from their wintering grounds in South America.

So, to all of you involved in this admirable effort, keep up the good work. It now seems possible the Purple Martin might once again become a fairly common bird at least locally in the Pacific Northwest.

With gratitude,


Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA
steppie at nwinfo.net


----- Original Message -----
From: Li, Kevin
To: 'Tweeters (postings)' ; 'McAllister, Kelly'
Cc: 'Woods, Sandra'
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 5:48 PM
Subject: re: Purple Martins - an exception to the rule?


Kelly, were those Spanaway martins nesting in a colonial situation? I take your report as excellent news, giving hope to the many people I know who lack marine waterfront but want to provide suitable nest cavities for our largest swallows. Did the property owners have any tips for us? How long have martins been nesting there? Recently I put up two posts and five boxes on the Sammamish Slough, and my hopes are just a bit higher now.

In the last few days I've seen 3 or 4 martins on the lower Duwamish at Terminal 105, but none around the boxes and gourds at Ballard or Pier 90 or Laurelhurst (Lake WA) or Fremont or at the north end of Lake Sammamish.

I understand Liberty Bay in Kitsap County has a number of martins right now, according to Jean Power.

Black swifts, violet green swallows, and tree swallows were on Lake Sammamish this morning.

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

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20000621/923f88b6/attachment.htm