Wednesday of this past week I was working on Lake Sammamish under partly
cloudy skies, but I saw no black swifts, and no purple martins. I watched
the nest boxes near Marymoor Park for about 15 minutes, but only saw a
couple of boxes being used by other swallow species.

Yesterday I went to Meadowdale County Park in Lynwood, and paddled a kayak
to Picnic Point county park; of the 10 martin nest boxes and gourds, at
least six were active with martins and one had house sparrows. While we were
paddling we also heard the wispy whistle of a young Caspian tern following
its parent, the first I've heard this season. Rhino auklets were seen in
small groups of up to five, and some were seemingly solitary.

On Thursday I ran a boat from Golden Gardens up to Richmond Beach, and saw
purple martins nesting at the Boeing Creek pilings, just south of Richmond
Beach Park. Al Wagar reported those to me a few weeks ago, these are the
first martins known there. Judy Ochs and I installed the boxes about 5 years
ago.

The Ballard purple martin colony appears to have about 10 pairs among the 12
gourds; I sealed nearly all the boxes due to the prevalence of house
sparrows, and have found that starlings and house sparrows have little
attraction to a gourd that swings in the wind or wave action. Martins have
been seen at the new gourds in Discovery Park, but none have nested there
this season.

Luhr Beach probably has at least six pairs of martins, less than usual;
typically the number is around ten.

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA
kdli at msn.com