8/23

bird.o.the.day@gmail.com

Purple Martins, the largest swallows in North America, had nearly vanished from the Puget Sound region when Kevin Li decided to do something about it. Today we—and the martins—enjoy the fruits of his and many others’ labor. Martins nest in colonies along the water’s edge, and last week‘s low tides allowed folks to get close to one along Shilshole Bay.

The youngsters were starting to fledge and the adults were kept busy bringing bugs back to the nests to keep them fed. It was pretty chaotic with birds coming and going.

It’s the sort of mad scene that causes you to just put your camera in “burst mode” and rip off dozens of shots at a time. You’ll get some keepers, but boy, it‘s a slog to review hundreds of nearly-identical photos looking for the one that is just right. I think this was one.