The Purple Marten Scouts Return

Rita Price is our local purple marten coordinator, taking her lead after Dave Fouts passed away. A few weeks ago she held a Sunday gathering where people on the island with purple marten gourds gave updates on last year's nesting. Rita followed that with an email:
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There was a documented female Purple Martin sited  abt 15 m ssw of Olympia WA this week!  Seems like we may have another early year… Keep your ears open for their song, and if you do see one, please report it to the PM scouting site.  https://www.purplemartin.org/research/8/scout-arrival-study/

(or drop me a line and I’ll gladly do it for you!)

Whoooo hoooo!!  Here we go!

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So of course when on the Sunday morning of April 7th I heard and then saw my first purple martens of the year, I dropped her this note, and not long after I wrote it, there were 8 of them--enough to fill all my gourds with nesting martens ... 

Hello Rita,

Three purple martens this morning! I am thrilled to hear and see them. I went and signed up on the conservation site and filed a scout report.

Thanks for keeping us informed and for all that you are doing for the martens.