[Tweeters] Purple Martin nest at Green Lake, Seattle

[stan Kostka lynn Schmidt via Tweeters]

Hello Martin,  and Tweets. 
  
What a great post !    Very very cool. 
Most noteworthy. Explains all the eBird reports around there. 
 
In my experience, a clutch of six all surviving to fledge is rare in the Sound.

Neither have I ever before seen a report/record of Purple Martins breeding at Green Lake. Reasonable to assume it has happened, just never been reported/recorded anywhere in the lit as far as I know. It’s all been about the Larrison roosts. 

Also,  noteworthy it’s in a duck box.  Not a whole lot of those records around either.  The few that Im aware of come from the lakes and marshlands of Fort Lewis, those observations,  the first by Wally Wilkins of Tacoma Audubon in 1981,  led to the installation of the first  nestboxes intended for martins going up on the fort,   to the best of my knowledge.  
 
I’m curious to know the age of the adult pair ?   Conventional wisdom has second year birds generally responsible for new breeding locations.  But it could be after second year birds,  one or both,  that experienced reproductive failure elsewhere  last year.  As you know, it’s a no brainer to ID an after second year male,  all dark blue/black.   Second year males easily confused with females.  After second year females sport some mild purple blueishness to my eyes but can generally appear grayish.   Second year females can appear brownish. Lots depends on the lighting.   And females do not sing the long fluid courtship song that ends with clicks.  See and hear a female looking martin doing this,  and it’s a second year male.  

Have you seen the young return to the nest cavity at the end of the day ? 

Have any photographs been taken ?

Does the box have a climbing predator guard ?

Again,  really great news.   
Stan Kostka 
lynn and stan at earthlink.net <http://earthlink.net/> 
Arlington WA   

Washington TweetersDate: 8/16 1:47 PM
From: Martin Muller via Tweeters <tweeters...>
Subject: [Tweeters] Purple Martin nest at Green Lake, Seattle
I spent 1.5 hours trying to get a head count of the Purple Martin fledglings at Green Lake this morning.

I never got more than six fledglings.

The last time I checked (August 6) the adults were bringing food to the Wood Duck nestbox attached to the floating wetland in the NW corner of the lake. The islands are viewable from land but also from the fishing pier north of the island (Waldo J. Dahl Waterfowl
Refuge, most of the time referred to as "Duck Island").

Today, the youngsters are on the wing and were mostly perching in trees on "Duck Island" with both adults hunting over the lake and feeding the young.

The assumption is that these are the young produced in the Wood Duck nest box.

To my knowledge this is the first record of Purple Martins breeding a Green Lake in a long, long time.

There are records of Fall gatherings of 2,500+ Purple Martins in the trees at the south end of the lake in the 1950s. But no nesting records.

Since most trees (including snags) around Green Lake were cut down in the 1880s (a sawmill was located approximately at the present day Starbucks location), it may well be this is the first record in almost 240 years.

The Taiga Floating Wetlands were installed on the lake in the spring of 2023 in cooperation with Friends of Green Lake to commemorate Taiga Brant Hinkley. As predicted the Canada Geese loved the islands and have tried to take over. Attempts to discourage them
have had mixed results. A nest box for Tree Swallows was attached to the west island. Tree Swallows used it last year, and again this year. A Wood Duck nest box was attached to the eastern island. Wood Ducks haven't used it (the expectation is they won't until
the shrubbery on the island are more established) and this year the Purple Martins took up residence.

Other birds on the lake (observed from the fishing pier) included some 250 Gadwall, 70 Mallards, 80 American Coots, 9 Northern Shovelers, a handful of Pied-billed Grebes, and some 200 swallows (mostly Barn with their progeny). I heard a Belted Kingfisher but
never saw it. Apparently perched on the far side of the island.

Martin Muller, Seattle