Hi Gary,

Ive seen martins carry food around a colony site for a long time,
nearly an hour, and then swallow it. I have no idea why they do this.
Apparently that female was up to the same thing, since there are no
nestlings yet. I checked the site yesterday and found four nests lined
with green leaves, so there should be eggs soon. Egg laying
generally occurs later at new breeding sites compared to where martins
have bred in past years.

Also, yesterday evening I watched an apparent subadult pair settle into
a nestbox on the north shore of Bellingham Bay, which indicates they
may breed there also this year.

If the weather cooperates through the season, there seems to be a good
chance there will be Purple Martins observed breeding in Skagit and
Whatcom counties for the first time in many years.

Stan Kostka
lynnandstan at earthlink.net
Arlington WA

original message:
Subject: Purple Martins in Anacortes
From: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch AT yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 22:59:16 -0700 (PDT)
Recent efforts to establish a Purple Martin colony in Anacortes (Skagit
County) have succeeded. On June 16, I saw at least seven of them at the
ferry landing (a location also known as Ship Harbor). There are bird
boxes out on the pilings, visible to the right of the ferry slip about
two hundred yards. One female was carrying food, so there may be
nestlings. To view these birds, park at the five-dollar lot, cross the
lines of cars waiting to go aboard, and look
out at the pilings across the water.