I've appreciated the various posts of NW purple martin arrivals, having been
too busy lately with new installations to look for martins myself. Discovery
Park now has seven purple martins gourds in the field near the Utah Avenue
wetland, and an additional seven gourds are above the pond within the sewage
treatment plant above the north beach. Some swallows were checking out the
gourds this afternoon, a good sign that they'll soon be inhabited; the sun
was in my eyes, but I suspect they were tree swallows. Park outreach
specialist Penny Rose has told me she's seen martins feeding in both areas
in past summers, martins that probably nested about a mile north in Ballard.
The new gourds near the north beach are within sight of the Ballard colony.

The Port of Seattle's Jack Block Park on lower Elliott Bay has seven new
gourds, and I hope to install more shortly. All of the gourds from previous
years were removed in the course of the superfund clean up, and the Port has
been extremely accomodating in allowing me to maintain the colony. The new
gourds are all on shore, on wooden posts installed by the Port just for this
project. The posts are on metal brackets that allow me to swing the posts
down after simply removing a single bolt. Evicting house sparrows will be
much easier, now that a boat and a daytime high tide are unecessary.

Last year a pair of martins bred in a gourd on a piling in the waterway just
east of piers 90/91, north of Myrtle Edwards Park, and so just recently I
added two more gourds on pilings about a 100 yards to the north. At low tide
the pilings are accessible with a ladder.

Reports of any bird activity at any of the housing would be much
appreciated, thanks.

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA
kdli at msn.com

_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar get it now!
http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/