This morning in Ballard I took advantage of the low tide to erect a ladder and clean out the purple martin boxes and take down the gourds. Two of the cedar boxes had grassy remains of the nest, including a few mussel shell fragments. At least one box had a conspicuous number of grubs (blowfly larvae?) moving around, and one gourd had several abandoned eggs. One box had a house sparrow nest. This winter I'll refurbish the gourds and one of the boxes.

After I was done I was surprised to hear and see two purple martins still hanging around the area; one was busy chasing off crows. This is the latest date I've seen martins, I believe.

On Friday I got a report of several martins still on Elliott Bay at the T5 public access, still roosting in the gourd nearest the pier.

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA
kdli at msn.com
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