Tweets, My report of martins in Tenino, possibly post-breeders, sparked a
number of responses, both on- and off-line, from Tweeters who are monitoring
nests in the Puget Sound basin. The consensus: the lack of food supply
associated with our suppressed spring/summer has been hard on hirundines and
so martins are mostly only recently hatched or yet to do so. So perhaps
there is a nest/colony nearby, or the martins are searching further afield
for food?? A check of my records (novel idea!) shows that martins here turn
up periodically (less than annually) in August (not July) in association
with other migrating/dispersal swallows. The only nesting birds I've
encountered locally are at Wier Prairie and near the Centralia steamplant
(nest sites in both Lewis and Thurston Counties). Good birding!
-- Paul Hicks / Tenino, s. Thurston Co / phicks AT accessgrace.org