Having seen a few purple martins at the Ballard public access recently, I
used Saturday's's low tide to install nesting gourds. The tide was higher
than I expected, and I had to slog through at least a foot of water with my
28' extension ladder to reach high on the pilings. The tide would be lower
in subsequent days, but I didn't like the thought of these martins coming
all the way from South America to find a housing shortage. It was a warm day
and getting soaked wasn't a problem. I brought my ladder, a bucket of tools,
and a car load of gourds. Initially there was a bald eagle on the pilings,
and after a few moments I thought I heard a martin. I extended my ladder and
got to work, filling my boots right away with salt water. After attaching
several gourds on the pilings, about a half dozen martins appeared from
nowhere, circling the pilings and landing just a few feet away while I was
still on the ladder. By the time I was finished, a dozen martins were in a
noisy frenzy over the new housing, moving from one gourd to the next.
Probably more than half the birds were adult males. The tide continued to
rise, and I decided to wait for another low tide to add more gourds. These
were clearly a big hit today, a reward that makes the effort well
worthwhile. The martins also gave lively chase to the crows, a highly
entertaining sight.

Later I went down to Jack Block Park and added five new gourds to the high
wooden structure over the wooden pier; three martins were already there, the
first I've seen at that site this season. I think that makes for about 17
gourds for the park. Brief visits to Terminal 105 and Herring's House Park
by Kellogg Island turned up no additional martins, but an osprey has been on
the nest quite regularly.

On Friday I checked on some new gourds in Discovery Park, but only saw
violet green swallows in the vicinity; eight gourds are at the Utah Ave
wetland.

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA