The first time I witnessed purple martin fledging was about eight years ago during Seafair Weekend, and I thought of the blue angels as I watched the martin aerial show; this year I saw the martin show again in Ballard, after seeing the blue angels on the lake on Thursday.
Today I visited the Shilshole Bay boxes and saw as many as 20 martins in the air, generally flying north to the large condo building near the marina. Often I would see groups of new fledglings huddled on the condo roof top, with adults giving support from nearby. With five pairs nesting, I wouldn't be surprised to find 30 martins among the pilings. Several of the boxes still had a few remaining nestlings, but they should be fledging shortly.

My next stop was Titlow Beach in Tacoma; thanks to Rob McNair-Huff for his report from yesterday. In an hour I saw activity at about 4 nestboxes, but one PVC cylinder to the right had six nestlings (four is about average). The pigeon guillemots were an extra treat. I was pleased to see the martins still nest there, despite the disrepair of the nest boxes and cylinders.

About 5pm I arrived at Luhr Beach near the Nisqually NWR, and the fishing pier is still bustling with martins. All of the dozen boxes had activity, and at times I estimated about 30 martins in the air. It was especially busy around 9pm. At least three boxes still have nestlings. After taking about 100 pictures I paddled my kayak up McAllister Creek, and found another martin nest in a box about a mile or so up the creek; the box has a USFWS label on it, and it's paired with another box on a solitary piling in the middle of the creek. An adult male was atop the piling, and nestlings were quite vocal. A little further upstream is a bend that has old pilings with swallow boxes, but only three boxes remain. A few years ago I think there were many more.

Kevin Li
kdli at msn.com
Ballard, USA