This morning I saw my first Seattle purple martin of the season, off the
Ballard public access beach on Shilshole Bay; I saw and heard a single male
on the nest box pilings at 6:50am, and then had to rush off to work. Last
year several martins showed up at this site, but then none were observed
after early June.
I have yet to see a martin on the Duwamish this year, although new boxes
were installed in the vicinity of last year's two successful nests.
On Vashon Island at Tramp Harbor today I saw at least 20-30 martins, where
Rich Siegrist has done a wonderful job of providing nest boxes; it appeared
that the site was close to capacity, and additional boxes might be useful.
Donna Weagel and I saw lots of activity around 10:45 am, which kind of
surprised me; it can often be hard to find them by late morning.
At the Luhr Beach fishing pier near Nisqually I've seen about 8 martins
within the past 2 weeks, and some of the boxes may need refurbishing or
replacement. The fishing pier itself has been closed to people due to the
2001 earthquake.
Picnic Point Park in Lynwood had three martins a couple of weeks ago, on
pilings that only recently got 5 or 6 nest boxes.

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