Tweets - I went out yesterday around 6:00 pm to reinstall 2 martin gourds
that came down a couple of years ago. (They're plastic ones, and were only
recently salvaged from the bottom of the lake. I cleaned them up and got
new mounting hardware, and they're as good as new). They have now rejoined
the original pair of gourds visible from the lake platform.

While I was out there in my canoe, I paddled to the Northeast corner of the
lake. As I mentioned in my report from last Thursday, there had been only
one report of Purple Martins at Marymoor this year. There have been martin
boxes at the NE corner for several years, and I wondered if there were any
martins hanging out there.

Well, I was surprised to find about 20 sparkling new wooden martin boxes in
the NE corner. I counted at least a dozen PURPLE MARTINS, and perhaps I now
have my answer to where the martins are. With all of that good real estate
over there, I think they've eschewed the martin gourds in the NW corner this
year.

On my way back, I was surprised to find two WESTERN KINGBIRDS working the
willows along the edge of the lake immediately southeast of the lake
platform (they would have been visible from the platform).

This is our 4th sighting of WEKI at Marymoor this year (April 28, May 3, May
17, and May 18, with the birds from the 17th and 18th being at diagonally
opposite ends of the park). This is in keeping with recent years - 4
sightings in 2011 spread from May 10 to June 24, 6 sightings in 2010, April
22-May 27; 2 sightings in 2009, April 23-April 26; 3 sightings in 2008, May
3-June 12; 5 sightings in 2007, April 26-June 19. I had not realized that
Kingbirds were that common here. I know they nest in small numbers in
Western Washington, but we've never had any indication of nesting. Where
they nest, they seem to stick very close to the nest site, so I don't think
any of these were birds nesting close by. So it seems to indicate a broad
window of migration for Western Kingbirds through Western Washington.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com