[Tweeters] resending Seattle Purple martin support

[kim]

Resending this due to a glitch in the digest version. My bad!

 

Kevin Li brought Purple martins back to the Seattle area about 20 years ago.
Since his passing in 2006, several of his friends have taken over the
maintenance and expansion of the colonies he started. There are active
Purple martin colonies that Kevin started that are at/near capacity in the
lower Duwamish River, Shilshole, and Terminal 91 in Elliott Bay.  The
creosote pilings at Terminal 91 (near the cruise ship terminal) are being
removed this summer during a Port of Seattle remediation project. The T-91
gourds have supported an ever-growing colony over the past few years. We are
working with the Port of Seattle to find one or more alternative locations
in the vicinity for the gourds. Ideally this will happen before the martins
start arriving in late April/early May. The alternative locations will
require "racks" (metal poles) and robust plastic gourds (resist vandalism
better than the natural gourds).

 

In addition, the pilings at Shilshole (north of Ray's Boathouse/waterward of
the Elks Lodge) are falling down over time. Every year there are fewer to
support gourds and this is a big colony (over 30 gourds and a couple boxes)
with at least 20 successful nesting pairs. We are working with the Port of
Seattle and others to try and find a location nearby to transition the
martins that will also require racks and gourds. Currently there are more
martins than there is housing near saltwater!  Larry Hubbell wrote a very
nice article about Kevin on his Union Bay Watch blog at
https://unionbaywatch.blogspot.com/2022/09/thank-you-kevin.html  and a few
photos of Kevin and the Shilshole martins are available at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/142862746@N02/albums/72177720315011242/ 

 

Since Kevin passed, his friends have happily bought new gourds and supplies
every year out-of-pocket. But we could really use assistance with the cost
of buying new racks and gourds (they aren't cheap) to provide housing at new
locations as well as at the existing colonies. And if anyone would
physically like to help us continue Kevin's purple passion, please get in
touch-we always need help as it's a BIG effort each year to get housing in
ship-shape condition and ready for the martins. This usually takes place in
April and it's dependent on low tides at Shilshole and high tide in the
Duwamish River (WDFW has been fabulous providing a boat and staff for
landlord activities at the Duwamish River colonies). We started a GoFundMe
at  https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-continue-kevin-lis-purple-martin-legacy
and really appreciate (as in REALLY) the very generous donations received so
far. If you'd like to help with the maintenance (cleaning and swapping out
new gourds), please e-mail me at glaciersea at comcast.net.

 

--Kim Stark

 

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