I wanted to follow up on the recent posts (alright, so one of them was mine)
regarding Purple Martins. There
are lots of places in the Seattle area that would be great spots for martin
housing: Green Lake, South Lake Union, Lake Washington.
Does anyone want to adopt a place and put up a gourd or two?

The late Kevin Li did a tremendous job of building up the martin population
in the
Seattle area. (He wrote an article for WOS news several years ago, and I can
send a PDF to anyone who is interested.) My opinion (based on anecdotal
evidence, I admit) is that martins have increased to the point
that they are again facing a housing shortage.

In 2006 gourds were put up in Kirkland, and all were occupied by martins. In
2007, gourds were put up near Seward Park, which attracted one pair.
Conventional wisdom states that sub-adult males are the ones that establish
new colonies, but the Seward Park male was fully adult. There's some of that
anecdotal evidence...

You can buy gourds at the Seattle Audubon Nature Shop, or through the Purple
Martin Conservation Association (who also sell lots of other things for
martin enthusiasts) at www.purplemartin.org.

Mike Donahue
Seattle