Excuse the belated report, have been on the run past few days.

Friday July 21 at nine oclock in the morning I heard the
unmistakable calls of Purple Martins somewhere very high overhead,
at the intersection of Woburn and Iowa in Bellingham. I was excited
to think they might be using some of the many burnt snags there from
the Whatcom Creek "fire", but a half hour watch did not turn up any
martins, although it is certainly possible I missed something.

According to the info I have, martins were last documented breeding
in old pilings on Lake Whatcom in the 1970s , with sightings at
nestboxes there into the late 90s , with the last sighting of a
martin on Lake Whatcom in the spring of 2000. With the Klucketenus
beach nestbox colony on Bellingham Bay at 100 percent occupancy this
year, more pairs than any year since martins were first observed
breeding there in 2003, its conceivable some birds may be using or
investigating nesting sites on Lake Whatcom, relatively very close
to Friday's sighting. I'd certainly be interested to hear of any
additional sightings of martins on or near Lake Whatcom this year.

Im not subscribed to Whatcom Birds, so perhaps someone could
forward this info, that would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Stan Kostka
lynnandstan at earthlink.net
Arlington WA