Photos and information provided by Dow Lambert

Compiled by Dee Renee Ericks

On August 8th at 0730, Dow Lambert, Ken Wiersema and members of the Purple Martin team strode across the sandy tidal flats to the 18 nest boxes of the 3 Crabs Colony. This was the fourth and final nest box check for 2025.

Weather conditions were slightly overcast, 59 degrees, and calm, with the low tide just hitting -0'6". Conditions were ideal.

Below are a few of Dow’s observations and the endoscope images he took of nest box interiors:

Purple Martin Box 1B at 3 Crabs. 8/5/2025
There were six eggs on June 22nd and 5-6 chicks on July 22nd, so it appears that one has fledged. These siblings look ready to leave.

Purple Martin Box 2A at 3 Crabs. 8/5/2025
There were five eggs on June 22nd and 4-5 chicks on July 22nd, so it appears that 2-3 have fledged.

In nest box 4A, four chicks appeared to be just 3-5 days old. They are at least 24 days from fledging, and then they have to have strength for migration. This will be a challenge for them.

Dow observed multiple fledglings out of the nest, begging for food.

Dragonflies are one of the primary insects fed to Purple Martin nestlings, and are now more plentiful with warmer temperatures. This summer has had relatively low temperatures in June and July which has delayed bug hatches.

Two chicks beg as dad brings two dragonflies to his chicks and mom observes from above. While it is difficult to discern in this photo, Dow saw that the female Purple Martin is banded. He and Ken are in the process of following up on that lead.

Purple Martin Box 6B at 3 Crabs. 8/5/2025
These four eggs were laid between July 12th to July 22nd, so are a minimum of 14 days old. It is possible the female abandoned them, or delayed incubation for some reason. If they do hatch now, it will be very challenging for them to survive to migration.

The team found that the sixteen nest boxes offshore had a total of 49-50 chicks and 8 eggs.