I promise I won't bore those reading Tweeters too much more with reports
of the Purple Martins at Titlow Beach in Tacoma, but after our 6 p.m.
visit to the area tonight I have to offer a quick update. Two days ago
there were four Purple Martins at the site, all checking out the nesting
tubes which are not being hogged by European Starling and House Sparrows.
Tonight we watched seven Purple Martins, four males and three females,
all jostling for the best possible nesting site. One pair seems to be
setting up house in a nesting tube, with the female staying in the tube
during our entire visit and the male stopping in a couple of times. The
other five martins are still trying to decide which nest looks best.

Aside from the enjoyable martin observations, the numbers of birds on the
saltwater side of Titlow Beach Park are dropping day by day. The most
plentiful birds, other than immature Western, Glaucous-winged, and mutt
gulls, is a persistent flock of feeding Bonaparte's Gulls out in the
middle of the channel. A couple of the Bonaparte's were kind enough to
sit on the rotting piling for great views through the spotting scope.
Also out in the channel were a pair of Western Grebe, and as the evening
wore on the numbers of Pigeon Guillemot grew from a single bird to a
couple of dozen. Surprisingly, none of them moved when a second-year Bald
Eagle flew over heading north toward the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Just
before we left a pair of Tree Swallows buzzed through the area, putting
on a high-speed show for the martins.

One other observation from closer to home in Tacoma's North End,
yesterday around 5 p.m. while I was planting peas in the garden I was
surprised to see 30 Steller's Jays flapping and gliding from one tree to
another through our neighborhood. We see Steller's Jays pretty
regularly, but in twos and threes and never in dozens. It was amazing to
see this many jays moving through the area. Now where are the Wilson's
Warblers?

Happy birding...

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