Today I was going to visit several purple martin sites around town, but when
I realized that the tide was out I figured I should first take the
opportunity to visit the Shilshole Bay site. With the minus tide I could
walk out to the pilings. The tide was well out when I got there around
2:30pm, but I could tell from a distance that something was up. Martins were
in a flurry of activity, and about 15 martins would be in the air
simultaneously. I could see martins hanging on various nest box and gourd
entrances, with three or four sometimes fluttering around one cavity.

It seems that maybe a new wave of martins has arrived, and they're checking
out the existing colony. House sparrows have taken several cavities despite
my numerous evictions, and I saw several battles between the species. I got
the impresion that addional cavities might be needed, so I rushed home and
got the ladder and the drill and a bunch of gourds. By about 3:30 the water
was at the base of the pilings, but being a warm sunny day it didn't matter
if I got wet. I put up four new gourds and pulled two house sparrow nests.
As I walked away with my ladder I stopped and looked back, and saw four
martins fluttering around one of the new gourds. One was hanging on the
entrance. I would guess that at times there were 15-20 martins in the air
around me.

The site is south of Shilshole Marina, at a public access beach west of West
Marine, the Ballard Elks Club, and Gordo's.

Kevin Li
kdli at msn.com
Ballard, USA