This same fledging scene is playing out on the pilings just off shore at
Titlow Beach here in the Tacoma area. Natalie and I watched two fledgling
Purple Martins outside of their nest boxes last night just before sunset.
There are also gulls fledging at Titlow right now, with one young one out
and peeping incessantly in the water last night, and another just poking
its head and beak out of the top of a hollowed out piling not far from shore.

Another interesting thing to watch at Titlow last night was a Belted
Kingfisher that, after catching a fish from the pond where the water
outlet and inlet leads to the Tacoma Narrows, was beating a fish
repeatedly against a metal pole in order to subdue it enough to slip it
down its gullet. It was certainly interesting to watch!

--
Rob McNair-Huff <mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com>
White Rabbit Publishing <http://www.whiterabbits.com>
Publisher of Mac Net Journal <http://www.whiterabbits.com/MacNetJournal>
The Equinox Project <http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html>
Co-author of Insiders Guide to the Olympic Peninsula