Dow's Bird Photos

Purple Martins at 3 Crabs - 2026 Season

July 30, 2026

This morning at 10:00, the OPAS PUMA Team conducted the fourth and final 2026 census of the 18 Purple Martin nests on the tide flats at 3 Crabs beach. Today, Ken and I were joined by Brodie, Carrie, Dan, Dee Renee, Holly, John, Rob, Sam, and Scott. It was 59 degrees with light wind and the tide was -1' and falling. Near perfect conditions for checking the nests.

I noticed the first fledglings perched on the post above Box 202 in the tidal lagoon on Sunday, July 26th. So we very likely had a number of fledglings out of the nests at the tide flats this morning. Inside the boxes we found only 3 eggs, in Box 5C. We counted 32 chicks of various ages, from newly hatched to fledgling, in 11 nests over the tide flats. Our best, optimistic guess, is there were 10 fledglings out of the nest during our check. We also counted six chicks in three nests over the tidal lagoon.

To see the egg count from the June 14th, June 28th, July 16th, and July 30th surveys in a new window click: 2026 Purple Martin Census. Hint: If possible, drag the new window to the side so you can see the table while you look at each photo.

To see the June 14th photos in a new window click: June 14, 2026.

To see the June 28th photos in a new window click: June 28, 2026.

To see the July 16th photos in a new window click: July 16, 2026.

The 18 nest boxes are mounted at the top of the three pilings, about 15' above the sand.

Here is the view from the beach today, courtesy of John Gussman.

To inspect a box, I lean a ladder against the piling, climb up about 10', and insert an endoscope through a small hole in the front of the nest box. I can view what the camera shows on my cell phone, and Ken and the rest of the team can view it on their mobile devices from the ground below. If I place the ladder correctly, I can insert the endoscope into all six nest boxes on the piling. I quickly take pictures, then move to the next piling. So we only disturb the birds for 3-5 minutes at each piling.

Here is closer view of this process, also courtesy of John Gussman. (7/16/2026)

To see a short (and silent) video of this process in a new window in your web browser click here. The video is 59 MB, so I don't recommend trying to play it on your cell phone. It takes about 15-20 seconds to load.

The "triplex" boxes are labeled nA, nB, nC, from top to bottom, so the first piling has 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B and 2C. The second and third pilings continue the numbering system. We write the box numbers at the back of the nest box to make it easy to identify the box from the photo.

Purple Martins typically lay 4-6 eggs, one per day, generally in the morning. Incubation starts with the second to last egg, so the chicks all hatch within a day or two of each other.

Egg size: 0.8-1.1" long; 0.6-0.8" wide
Incubation: 15-18 days
Fledging: 26-36 days

Below are the endoscope photos of each nest.

Purple Martin Box 1A at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

This is very discouraging. On June 28th there were five freshly laid eggs in a clean nest. On July 16 there are only dead chicks in a very messy nest. Today it appears that the dead chicks were removed and some work had been done on the nest, but there were no new eggs.

Purple Martin Box 1B at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

All five eggs we found on June 28th hatched, and the chicks looked healthy on July 16th. Today we can see only three chicks that look close to fledging. We assume the other two have recently fledged.

Purple Martin Box 1C at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

This nest presents another mystery. There were two eggs on June 28th and four on July 16th. Today there are two chicks that appear to be only 3-4 days old, and no eggs.

Purple Martin Box 2A at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

On July 16th we noted that four of the five eggs from June 28th had hatched, and the chicks looked a bit stressed. Today there are clearly two fully feathered chicks that look ready to fledge. But it looks like there is at least one dead chick on the left side of this image.

Purple Martin Box 2B at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

On July 16th there were three chicks in 2B, which matched the 3 eggs we had on June 14th. These are likely the first chicks at 3 Crabs this season. Today, we can see two fully feathered chicks. These may have fledged and are just back in the nest resting.

Purple Martin Box 2C at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

On July 16th there were three eggs that were laid after June 28th. Today there are no eggs visible and one newly hatched chick on a bed of green leaves that were not there on July 16th.

Purple Martin Box 3A at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

We believe the female in 3A laid her sixth egg early the morning of June 14th, and we found 4-6 newly hatched chicks on June 28th. On July 16 the chicks appeared to be least 18 days old. We assume that all six chicks fledged successfully.

Purple Martin Box 3B at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

On June 14th, Box 3B had the start of a nest, with some green leaves indicating eggs were on the way. Not much change on June 28th, but on July 16th this box was bare, as it is today. Sometimes PUMA will steal the nest material from one box to use in another.

Purple Martin Box 3C at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

Box 3C had 5 eggs on June 28th, and five chicks on July 16th. Today, three fully feathered chicks are visible, and possibly a fourth, although two may have fledged now.

Purple Martin Box 4A at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

This is another mystery nest. Box 4A had five eggs on June 28th, all laid after our June 14th check. On July 16th there were two 7-day-old chicks and one egg that should have hatched already, Today Box 4A is bare, with all the nest material removed. It is too soon for those two chicks to have fledged, so we assume they did not survive.

Purple Martin Box 4B at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

Box 4B is another one where a nest was started early but no eggs were ever laid.

Purple Martin Box 4C at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

Four eggs from June 28th hatched but the 2-3-day old chicks looked a bit stressed on July 16th. Today they look like they are getting fed and growing.

Purple Martin Box 5A at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

All five eggs in Box 5A on June 28th hatched and the chicks looked OK on July 16th. Today there is one fully feathered chick that looks close to fledging, but there appear to be one or more dead chicks in the nest.

Purple Martin Box 5B at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

The grasses we primed Box 5B with were removed early in the season and this box has not been used other than for roosting.

Purple Martin Box 5C at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

On June 14th all the grasses we primed Box 5C with had been removed. On June 28th new nesting material had been delivered, along with some green sea grass. The nest looked complete on July 16th, and today there are three eggs.

Purple Martin Box 6A at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

Box 6A had two eggs on June 28th and four on July 16th. Today there are four hungry chicks.

Purple Martin Box 6B at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

Box 6B had 5 eggs on June 28th and five 2-3-day old chicks on July 16th. Today there is a pile of at least four and likely five chicks.

Purple Martin Box 6C at 3 Crabs. 7/30/2026

There were five eggs in Box 6C on June 14th. On June 28th we found one whole egg and one cracked egg. There were three chicks out of their eggs and one struggling to get out. See the video below for better detail. Sadly, on July 16th those chicks and eggs were gone and there were four new eggs. What happened? Today there are four newly hatched chicks. Hopefully they will survive to fledge around the first of September, learn to feed themselves, and be able to head south.

If you have Internet Explorer 10 or current versions of Chrome, Firefox, or a new iPad, you should be able to play a short video of the fourth chick hatching in Box 6C..

Click Here to play the video in your web browser (requires an HTML5-compliant web browser). When you finish, click the HOME button at the bottom left edge of the page, or click the picture of me in the upper left corner of the page, to return to this page.

If the video won't play click here to try it with your system software.

Purple Martins

3 Crabs Colony

May 25, 2026

This year the first Purple Martin male scout to return to 3 Crabs was reported on April 15th, two days earlier than last year. I just missed it that day, but found it the next morning. More birds arrived over the next few weeks, and on May 9th, International Migratory Bird Day, Ken and I counted 32 PUMA. There were likely more that we didn't see. After three weeks resting, feeding and claiming their nest boxes, they began gathering grass, sticks, and wet seaweed to build their nests.

First male Purple Martin scout. 4/16/2026

First observed nest building. 5/6/2026

Last year we had a banded female nesting in Box 4C out on the tide flats. Today I photographed this banded female collecting wet seaweed and mud and delivering it to Box 206 adjacent to the parking lot. Hopefully we will be able to get the numbers from the bands. Both birds have a green color band on the left leg. If this is the same bird, it was banded on July 26, 2020 near Cathlamet in Wahkiakum County, Washington.

Banded female collecting wet material for nest. 5/24/2026

Banded female delivering nesting material to Box 206. 5/24/2026

Her mate helps gather and deliver nest material

This is the mate to the banded female. 5/28/2026

Today is special. He flew up to perch on the nearby power pole. She remained, preening, for three minutes, then joined him.

Banded female with her mate. 6/1/2026

They are now officially a mated pair.

Hey! Get a room! 6/1/2026

Today the female spent several minutes preening while perched on a power line. As she moved around the green band on her leg kept rotating. It took 50 shots before I finally had three that captured all the letters and numbers. Yes! This female is the same female we had here last year, with the green color-band showing WA W018.

Although this female was banded as a chick in the nest in 2020, 200 miles south of 3 Crabs at the Julia Hansen Butler Refuge, for some reason she came here last year and again this year. So this is her sixth round-trip to southeast Brazil, approximately 8,000 miles each way! The average life span of Purple Martins in the wild is estimated at 5-7 years. Will she be back next year?

Click each image to see a close-up of the band.

Green color band showing WA W. 6/2/2026

Green color band showing W 01. 6/2/2026

Green color band showing 18. 6/2/2026

History

Efforts to establish a Purple Martin (PUMA) colony at 3 Crabs Estuary in Dungeness, WA began in the mid-1990s. Volunteers from the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society (OPAS) constructed four simple nest boxes and hung them on old pilings that they accessed by boat. By 2005 PUMA were returning regularly and OPAS began adding more boxes. Instead of using a boat at high tide, volunteers monitored the nests at minus tides when they could walk out on the tide flats and raise and lower the boxes with a 10' pole.

Purple Martin nest boxes at 3 Crabs, 5/16/2010

For more information on the history of the OPAS Purple Martin project, see: Purple Martin Nest Box Study,

There are also some excellent blog posts about the PUMA outings here: OPAS Blog,

I joined the other volunteers in 2009 and have helped build, maintain, and monitor the nest boxes ever since. Every fall, after the Purple Martins head south, we bring in the nest boxes to clean, repair, and store until spring. The goal is to put the boxes back up shortly before the PUMA return in early to mid-April. The challenge is that we have to do this task when we have a daylight minus tide. The PUMA do not read our tide charts so sometimes they arrive while we are putting up the boxes, and sometimes we put the boxes up a week or two before they arrive.

Newly retired, young and fit, I took over the task of lowering the nest boxes on a 10' pole, so we could hang them on a nail at eye level. Then we would remove the door, insert a mirror, and take a picture of the reflection of the nest in the mirror.

Checking a Purple Martin nest box at 3 Crabs Beach, 6/22/2009

Finally we replaced the door, raised the nest box on the pole and hung it up again. This was somewhat challenging on a calm day and very challenging on a windy day. After a wind gust nearly caused me to drop a box containing eggs I proposed screwing a board to the feet of an extension ladder so it wouldn't sink in the mud, and inspecting the boxes from the ladder. This created new challenges but over the years we have modified nest boxes, the ladder, and the method of taking photos. Here is what that process looked like:

Checking a Purple Martin nest box at 3 Crabs Beach, 7/12/2018 (by Sally Harris)

In 2018, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, North Olympic Salmon Coalition, and about 28 other organizations completed a major project to restore the Dungeness Estuary at 3 Crabs. This effort included removing the 3 Crabs Restaurant and an old bridge over Meadowbrook Creek, rerouting the road and constructing a new bridge, and removing several hundred old creosote-covered pilings left over from the Dungeness Wharf. Yes, including the pilings that we hung the Purple Martin boxes on. To understand the scope of this project, watch the excellent 8-minute documentary produced by local cinematographer John Gussman, titled 3 Crabs, 5 Salmon, 30 Partners.

You may also enjoy my 4-minute video of the piling removal, which happened from October 12-17, 2018. NOTE: this is a 65MB file so it may take a minute to load before it starts playing. For those of you who are fact-checking me, be aware that the Purple Martins you hear singing in this video were half-way to Brazil, having left town in early September. Chalk this up to poetic license on my part.;)

Fortunately, OPAS negotiations resulted in three new steel pilings placed where we specified on the tide flats where we had been hanging the boxes on about ten pilings. If you watched the above video of the piling removal, you will see that they installed the three steel pilings before beginning to remove the old pilings. In 2012 we began experimenting with a new box design, using 6" PVC pipe mounted on a 1x6" backboard and then attached to piling.

New PVC nest box design at 3 Crabs, 6/21/2012

The Purple Martins seemed happy with this design and we slowly started replacing old wood boxes with these new, lighter boxes. In June 2018, with permission from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, we mounted two duplex nest boxes in the tidal lagoon adjacent to the parking lot at 3 Crabs.

New nest box installation at 3 Crabs, 6/26/2018

Since we now only had three pilings, we spent the fall and winter designing and building six Purple Martin triplexes using the 6" PVC pipe. Here is a photo of the new boxes ready to install. What looks like a nose is a handle for pushing the door in or pulling it out. A small nail on each side secures the door. The hole near the top on the right side of the handles is an access hole for inserting an endoscope camera to photograph the nest. So we no longer have to remove the door, which is safer for the birds and for the person on the ladder.

New triplexes ready for installation, 3/17/2019

We also added a stand-off to the ladder. The photo below, captured by John Gussman, shows me inserting the endoscope into Box 1A while looking at the image on my cell phone. When I get the image focused on the nest, and showing the box number on the back of the box, I press a button on the screen to take the photo. I really appreciate the ground crew holding the ladder steady. We can now photograph all 18 nests in under 20 minutes, vastly reducing the annoyance factor for the birds.

Checking a Purple Martin nest box at 3 Crabs Beach, 7/12/2025. Photo courtesy of John Gussman.