Erik, I installed the Marymoor gourds, and I try to clean them annually. I have future plans to have the Sammamish Rowing Club kids clean them; COVID blocked that idea at least for this year. If I miss a year or two, though, it doesn't seem to matter to the martins.
But in general, there is a lack of martin gourd maintenance. Many gourds were installed back when Kevin Li was working diligently to restore martins to this area. See
https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/purple-martin-majesty/ His tragic and untimely death left many martin gourd installations without anyone to maintain them. Many of the gourds that were installed require a boat (and possibly some access permission) to get to them.
= Michael Hobbs
= www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
=
BirdMarymoor at gmail.com
From: Eric Kowalczyk
Sent: Tuesday, June 2, 2020 10:15 PM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Purple martin gourds
Just checking, does anyone (or organization) clean out the gourds at the end of the season at Montlakee Fill or Marymoor (or elsewhere)??
thank you
Eric Kowalczyk
Seattle
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