Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Purple Martins over Tenino
Date: Jul 13 23:06:38 2011
From: ray holden - rayleeholden at yahoo.com


They are still some martins in the nest boxes in East Bay in Oly? but not so many as last year.? Also the barn swallows on East Bay are having a hard time. Two nests out of five have failed and the number of chicks is much smaller so far.? One female is still sitting.? One nest had 4 chicks hatch but 1 failed to fledge.? It either fell or failed to fly (maybe too weak)? and I found it dead on the sidewalk just below the nest.? The final nest only has one hatchling and so far nobody is sitting a second clutch.? The amount of flying bugs is noticeably down from this time last year.? So maybe the Martins are adults that had nest failures.


A side issue is that I counted 15 Caspian Terns in the roosting flock display tonight.? Last week there were only 8.? The little fish are jumping in the lake and the bay so maybe more will arrive.? Last year we had about 25 at their peak.?

?
Ray Holden
Olympia, WA

Life is for the birds.


________________________________
From: stan Kostka lynn Schmidt <lynnandstan at earthlink.net>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 5:58 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Purple Martins over Tenino

Hi Paul,

Keep listening for those birds,? they may be breeding somewhere not too far from you.? Based on what I've seen and heard so far this year,? martins are still very much in the nest in the Pacific Northwest.? ? The earliest nests I've heard about have young going on three weeks old,? up in BC,? and some down in Cowlitz county are about two weeks old.? Most are much younger.? I checked nests at English Boom on Camano Island yesterday morning and all 13 pair there are still on eggs.? Last year the first young at English Boom did not hatch out until about July 16.? The north Sound runs later than anywhere else in WA, or the entire NW,? to the best of my knowledge.? The data I have shows Thurston County with more data points for breeding martins than any other WA county,? except for Pierce.?

Stan Kostka
Arlington
lynnandstan at earthlink.net

Subject: Purple Martins over Tenino
From: "Paul Hicks" <phicks AT accessgrace.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:02:23 -0700
Tweets, Mon & Wed a.m. I heard Purple Martins flying over my house (new yard
bird). I'm guessing they're in post-breeding dispersal mode - the only time
of year I've ever observed them in the Tenino area, less than annually
(average once every 5 years). Good birding!


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