Subject: [Tweeters] Edmonds Marsh Nest Box Update
Date: Tue Aug 24 18:46:06 PDT 2021
From: Carol Riddell - cariddellwa at gmail.com

Hi Tweets,

Two of us removed the five nest boxes in Edmonds marsh today. The tide was exceptionally low so we had many hours of mud during which we could work. The farthest out nest box, typically used by Tree Swallows, had two dead adults in it. We left the nest and the bodies in the cat tails. I have been wondering if they were incubating eggs when the June extreme heat event took place and they succumbed. The other two Tree Swallow boxes fledged at least one chick each. The Violet-Green Swallow box fledged three chicks. The Black-capped Chickadees had fledged their young well before the heat event.

We are cleaning the boxes thoroughly and plan to do repairs on two of them over the winter. We hope to reattach them to the metal fence posts no later than April 1st-;earlier in March for the chickadee box.

The county informed me that they were going to back off the September 3rd spray date for the common reed (phragmites) when they learned that the water levels in the marsh are not on the same schedule as the waterfront tides. After a little further research, they have decided to stick with September 3rd but start the spray project at a later hour. They did not provide the time. After walking around the largest of the two common reed stands today, I can't fathom how they plan to spray both within a two hour period. But I don't know the details of the project.

If it bothers you to be around chemical sprays, I recommend that you not bird Edmonds marsh on Friday, September 3rd. I plan to be elsewhere.

Good birding,

Carol Riddell
Edmonds, WA