Purple martin colony

Purple martins are a species that nearly vanished for this area. One reason: a finicky taste in nesting sites. They like cavities overlooking water.
So a dedicated group of bird nerds has been bringing them back by building nest boxes and gourds in suitably scenic locations.
This pair is at the beach by the Ballard Elks Club. Both birds, but especially the female were gathering bits of nesting material, and stuffing it into the hole. Often bits of what looked like straw would fall out.

A glaucous-winged gull/western gull hybrid was also nestled on eggs on one of the pilings.