Kevin, tweets,

I just checked the Kenmore Logboom Park pier and there were two large babies
being tended by an adult, at least, in the last gourd out past the end of
the pier. They'll likely fledge in a day or so, I'd guess.

Thanks for putting the gourds up. It's great to have martins so close to
home. In fact, I swear I heard them from my back deck several times about a
month ago, but could never spot them overhead.

Gene Hunn
enhunn323 at comcast.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Li" <kdli at msn.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 11:35 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] re: purple martins migrating


> Bruce Cousens of Victoria mentioned a couple of weeks ago that most
> martins there had fledged and become elusive for observers.
> After fledging they may stick around to roost for up to a couple of weeks,
> learning to feed on the wing. I've seen the adults fly high carrying
> dragonflies, with the entire brood in hungry pursuit. Initially they feed
> the young directly, and later will drop prey for the young to catch. They
> may be hard to find by day, but show up at dusk. Often it's easier to find
> them by ear than by sight; they can be quite high in a kettle, and will
> then suddenly drop out of the sky.
> Martin fledglings may also roost in different housing from which they were
> born; I've seen gourds that had been empty all season suddenly have 4-6
> martins in the evenings. Some years in the Seattle area I've seen martins
> near their nest sites as late as mid September. It appears that they may
> be leaving earlier this year.
>
> Kevin Li
> Ballard, USA
>
>
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