[obol] Purple Martins in Canby

[Norgren Family]

     This is interesting as I had always
assumed Purple Martins had high site fidelity
when nesting. But only this Friday (June 1) a
male PUMA was above my house in the woods at
8:40am, and again about 5pm. I presume he was
intrigued by the very tall trees. I have heard
these birds rarely and at a distance here over
the past 15 years, maybe once every three years.
      I suppose the most facile explanation is
that the level of logging is currently very high
and this individual has lost its nest snag. But
it would be nice to think that last year was a
big hatch and there are extra PUMAs looking for
a home now.    Lars Norgren MANNING Oregon(Washington
County)
On Jun 2, 2007, at 10:47 PM, Kay Carter wrote:

> This morning I found a pair of Purple Martins apparently nesting in an 
> old piling in the Willamette in Canby.  It’s possible there were 4 
> birds, but if so 2 of them were present only briefly.  The male of the 
> pair that did stick around was mostly perched on top of the piling, 
> while the female flew into and out of a hole near the top several 
> times in the course of 5 or so minutes.  A couple of times the male 
> chased off Starlings that came too close.
>  
> I’ve been birding this location at least once a week for nearly 3 
> years and have not seen Martins there before.
>  
> The location is at the north end of N. Molalla Forest Road, which 
> intersects with NE Territorial road in Canby.  This section of Molalla 
> Forest Rd is closed to traffic and is really just a wide, 
>  mostly-graveled walking path that dead-ends at the river.  There’s a 
> parking area off Molalla Forest Rd near the intersection with 
> Territorial; from there it’s about a mile to the end of the road.  The 
> “trail” passes through several different habitat types and the area is 
> nearly always birdy.  My species count from this week (2 visits) is at 
> 36, plus 5 mammals.
>  
> Let me know if more information is wanted.
>  
> Kay Carter
> Canby
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