Narration, Videos and Photos by Dee Renee Ericks
Folks participating in the field trip portion of the Backyard Birding class on Purple Martins got a close up look at these beautiful swallows on Monday, July 8 . We left the 3 Crabs parking area, and ambled out over the exposed sand flats at low tide eyeing the constant soaring motion of the martins as we neared their nest boxes.
OPAS field trip participants enjoy the cooler sea breeze temperatures as they walk out to the pilings.
Two male PUMA watch as we set up below. Note the beautiful iridescence of their feathers.
Setting up gear to ensure the count is successful. Listen to the beautiful chortles of nearby Purple Martins.
Dow Lambert shinnies up the ladder to begin the count, while onlookers peer at the screen below.
Dow inserts an endoscope (yellow cord with tiny camera) into a small hole on the face of each nest box , and he checks an app on his cell phone for correct camera alignment before taking an image.
Folks gather around Ken W. and his tablet to view what the camera unveils inside the nest box. The number of eggs are tallied from each box.
The egg count in progress.
Aftermath. Fortunately the intrusion is of short duration and will not affect the nesting success of the Purple Martins.
A total of 64 eggs were spotted in the 3 Crabs nest boxes, with likely more on the way. 2024’s count is 9 eggs higher than last year at this time. As Dow says, we are off to a good start! Photo by Dow Lambert