Hi Tweets,

Barbara and I have been monitoring goings-on at three Purple Martin areas in
West Seattle this summer. We've spent about seven hours observing these
locations and found the martin colony at Jack Block apparently reduced to a
single pair. They have a nest with youngsters at the north end of the old
wharf railroad(?) structure that has 19 gourds hanging along the boardwalk.
The active gourd is one of the two hanging from a bracket above the
structure at the north end. One evening last week we watched the parents
bringing food several times to the nest. The other gourds seem empty, some
even have spider webs partially covering the entrances. Some of the gourds
may contain dead martins.

Jack Block is exposed to chilly wind sweeping across Elliot Bay, but the
other two locations are in a more sheltered area on the Duwamish Waterway.
At T-105 we have seen food deliveries at six nests; there is a possible
seventh active nest on the farthest piling, where we've seen birds perched,
but no food deliveries so far. We've counted up to nine birds foraging at
once, bringing food to the gourds and nest boxes, and the birds' calls to
each other are a refreshing change from the silence of the martins at Jack
Block.

T-107 is Herring House, but might better be called Kellog Island, since the
gourds and nest boxes are all across the channel along the west side of the
island. Here there are two active nests, and two other possibilities where
we've seen birds perched, but haven't seen either youngsters peering out of
the nests or food deliveries. Martin nests usually have 4 or 5 eggs, and
figuring a 75% nestling survival rate would give a rough estimate of about
18 adults and upwards of 24 juveniles at the three West Seattle sites by
season's end.

Paul Webster
West Seattle
paul.websterATcomcast.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "stan Kostka lynn Schmidt" <lynnandstan at earthlink.net>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2008 10:59 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Cause of local 2008 Purple Martin deaths?


> Hi Ed,
>
> The other day I checked a colony in Snohomish County and found nine dead
> adult martins at one site that only has six boxes, only one box had an
> active nest, a second year female incubating three eggs at this late
> date, I never saw or heard a male bird the entire time I was there,
> even though the female exited her nest and alarm called, a vocalization
> that in my experience always attracts other martins. At two other nearby
> sites I did not see or hear any martins, can only check those boxes by
> boat at high tide and I will be doing that soon , but admit I am not
> really looking forward to it.
>
> Back in June immediately after the weather broke I found some reasonably
> fresh dead martins which are now double bagged in the deep freeze,
> preserved them for an ongoing biometrics study, whether or not and to
> what extent they can now be used to test for other causes of death I do
> not know, but will investigate that option. Based on a quick
> examination of the dead birds I think they all starved to death,
> underweight, shrunken breast muscles, with a sharply protruding breast
> bone.
>
> My data does not go back quite as far as Rich's, but it does include
> 2002 and also shows no decline that year, in fact it shows a nearly 30%
> increase in the known population in my north Sound study area that year.
> I personally do not recall the weather being nearly as cold and wet that
> year as it was this year, at least not here in the north Sound, but have
> not looked at any data regarding that.
>
> I recall living in Pennsylvania back in 1972 when the remnants of
> Hurricane Agnes moved up the East coast, turned west and stalled over
> the middle of the state during the height of the martin breeding season
> in June, it turned cold and rained non stop for a week, killed all
> adults and young at many colonies.
>
> Has anyone noticed unusually high mortality in any other species here in
> this region this year ?
>
> Stan Kostka
> lynnandstan at earthlink.net
> Arlington
>
>
>
> Subject: Cause of local 2008 Purple Martin deaths?
> From: "Ed Swan" <edswan AT centurytel.net>
> Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 07:25:13 -0700
> Talking to Rich Siegrist here on Vashon, he found 9 dead adults in the
> boxes he
> has set up over the last 15 years. Last year there were 71 pairs here,
> this
> year 14. Checking the Office of the Washington State Climatologist
> website,
> this spring's temperatures were relatively cold. However, the spring of
> 2002
> was also equally cool, yet Rich doesn't have the same sort of dip in his
> records.
> Is more than the weather going on with the martin population or was
> there
> something particular about this year that made a difference?
> Ed Swan
>
>