Hi Kara,

Do not use an apartment style martin house. They are a quick and
easy way to get multiple nest cavities up in the air but they do not
best suit the needs of the birds, for a variety of reasons. A
cluster of cavities with more space between entrances is better.

Years ago Kevin Li switched from single wooden nestboxes to gourds,
for a couple reasons he said, gourds were easier for him to prep and
hang , and more importantly they tended to be used less by house
sparrows, for whatever reason, perhaps the motion in the wind.
If you hang gourds be sure they can swing a bit, but do not spin.
Natural gourds will insulate nests better than plastic, assuming the
nests stay dry in both, but natural gourds will not last as long,
and they have no access ports unless you go to the trouble to install
them, or can buy them already prepared.

The best place for martin nest cavities is over water. Cavities over
water are less likely to be used by starlings and house sparrows,
and are safe from climbing predators. Are you planning on using the
abandoned pilings there at Seacrest ? I havent been there in a while
so don't even know if they are still there. If so, be sure to find
out from whoever administers the site as to whether or not the
pilings have been targeted for removal as part of creosote cleanup.

One drawback of gourds is that they tend to attract vandals more than
fixed wooden boxes. There's something about a hanging gourd that
says "target" to certain people. Are there rocks on the beach
there ? If so, it's likely some knuckleheads will be throwing
rocks. A wooden nestbox is much more durable than a natural gourd. .
If you hang gourds on pilings, hang them so they are on the far side
from shore. Hang them at least five feet above the highest tide that
will occur between April and October. The higher the better, but
not so high you cant get to them without too much trouble.

When you install whatever you decide to install, do it in such a way
that you can access the things in the event they get used by house
sparrows. If the gourds have no access ports from which you can
remove nests, the only thing you can do is remove the gourd entirely
if house sparrows persistently occupy and reoccupy it. I dont
think its a good idea to hang any birdhouse unless you are committed
to controlling exotics to a reasonable extent.

No way to know the timing of each breeding season in advance, but
likely the first birds wont be back here until April, many to most
adults will arrive in May, second year birds later, even into
early July. Martins display extreme site fidelity, so, the birds
that use new nest sites generally are second year birds breeding for
the first time, or after second year adults that experienced
reproductive failure somewhere else in the previous season. The
earliest I have ever seen eggs in the Sound has been first week of
June, so I would not hang anything until May first at the earliest.
I have seen martins use sites that did not even go up until after the
middle of May. By then all or most starlings will have selected
nest sites elsewhere, and hopefully house sparrows too.

Another thing worth mentioning, since the subject of martins has come
up , is a recent publication in Conservation Genetics, Baker et al,
showing that eastern and western populations diverged about
200,000-400,000 years ago. So, western conservation efforts take on
new importance, I think, since besides being somewhat different in
morphology and behavior, it is now known that the very small
western population in the US, which represents a fraction of 1% of
North American martins, is significantly differentiated from the
millions of eastern birds.

Let me know how it goes and if you see any banded birds.

Looking forward to spring.

Stan Kostka
lynnandstan at earthlink.net
Arlington


Subject: seeking Purple Martin advice
From: "Kara Whittaker" <kara.whittaker AT gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 18:50:58 -0800
Hi Tweeters,

I would like to put up some purple martin gourds or condos at
Seacrest Park
on Elliott Bay, and could use some practical local advice to get started
before they return (beyond the existing info online).

Are there any Tweeters out there who would be willing to provide some
guidance to help expand this population?

Thanks,

Kara Whittaker
Alki Kayak Tours