Purple Martins at 3 Crabs - Photo by Dow Lambert

View this special program that focuses on the declining population of the Purple Martin, North America’s largest swallow. Ken Wiersema illustrates how OPAS provides safe nesting cavities for these beautiful and charismatic birds so that they can reproduce successfully. You will hear a recording of their melodic song that includes boisterous chortles, rattles, chirps, and croaks. Enjoy!

A message from Ken: “This video is Part II of the July 1st Purple Martin Backyard Birding program. Part I was presented as a field trip at 8:30 a.m. on July 1st at the 3 Crabs beach nesting site, where folks saw us climbing up to check the status of nesting and egg laying in the 18 tubular nest boxes on steel pilings on the tide flats of Dungeness Bay. Using an endoscope to relay images to an iPad, attendees could see the eggs in the nest boxes. We found nests in 17 of the boxes and found eggs in 15. There was evidence that more eggs were to be laid in the next 3-5 days. From our photos we counted 53 eggs. Though the eggs are 10-14 days later than we’ve seen them in the past, we’re expecting a productive breeding season in 2023.

“Note: the Railroad Bridge and Railroad History program mentioned on the video will be presented on July 13th at 3 p.m. It’s a part of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Library’s ‘Learning our Landscape’ series. It will be an online program; no in-person attendees. For info and a Zoom link click here.”