During an evening visit to Titlow Beach Park in Tacoma yesterday Natalie
and I were initially disappointed to see just a single male Purple Martin
at the site, but patience paid off about 30 cold minutes later when a
female joined the male, then another pair of Purple Martins arrived for
some aerial dancing around. The good news is that both pair of martins
eventually ducked into two of the nesting tubes at the site! So,
preliminary signs are that Purple Martins may once again nest at Titlow Beach.

The female in one pair of martins is banded, but given the windy
conditions and the fact that the white or silver band is pushed all the
way up against the body of the female martin in question, Natalie and I
couldn't get a reading off the band on this day.

This was the least birdy visit to Titlow in the last three weeks, but we
did get a great look at a Red-necked Grebe out in the middle of the windy
channel.

Right before leaving Titlow we observed a third pair of Purple Martin
flying through the area and heading north along the Tacoma Narrows. We'll
see if these martins are actually associated with Titlow on future visits...

Rob McNair-Huff ---------- mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com
White Rabbit Publishing -- http://www.whiterabbits.com/
Mac Net Journal ---------- http://www.macnetjournal.com/
The Equinox Project ------ http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html