[NatureNS] Swallow news

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From: Donna Crossland <dcrossland@eastlink.ca>
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2018 22:24:05 -0300
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That is a fascinating update on breeding swallows.  I had no idea they 
would nest this late, but there should be plenty of time to fledge and 
build up strength for the long flight, I suppose. They'll have to alter 
diets a little.  The deer flies are very abundant this year.  I hope 
they clean up on a few of them.


Just today I lamented how much I miss our swallows that have long ago 
fledged and dispersed from the two active tree swallow houses this year 
in our Tupperville back yard (near Annapolis Royal).  We also use the 
plates to keep out unwanted tenants, chiefly starlings that despite our 
efforts still bred prolifically as usual, but at least not from our tree 
swallow nest boxes.  I also remarked this year that various barn and 
cliff swallow 'colonies' continue to expand, and have perhaps the barn 
swallows have returned to per-colapse numbers at some farmsteads, at 
least those that still operate as farms.  One can always hope.


Good luck with the Cape Breton swallows, and let us know how it goes.


Donna Crossland

Tupperville, Annapolis County


On 2018-07-19 4:00 PM, Fritz McEvoy wrote:
> Hi All,
>      Like most of NS late May &  June were cold and wet here in the 
> highlands. Tree Swallows arrived in late May and through most of June 
> hung about waiting for the weather to warm up and flying insects to 
> arrive. This never really happened and most of my breeding flock 
> appeared to have moved on by late June.
>      I expected this was going to be a very bad year for swallow 
> breeding with lots of partial nests and dead chicks but about ten days 
> ago they reappeared and started the mating process again.              
>   Today I checked five of the boxes that have shown the most activity. 
> One box had a used nest with breeding evidence, three had swallow 
> chicks about half fledged and one just eggs. This seems very late for 
> breeding here but I'm not complaining.
>       Another reason for the late breeding may have to do with the 
> predator guards I put on most of my boxes in May. Although squirrels  
> are not - in my experience- swallow predators here, they do like to 
> make the entrance holes bigger and then use the boxes as roosts or 
> nests. The guards (a 3"x 3" Plexiglas plate with a 1 1/2" hole screwed 
> over the box opening) seem to have worked well so far and the boxes 
> have not been filled with hay or shredded bark.
>       I'll have a better idea of how the season went in the fall after 
> I've cleaned out the boxes. All the best.
>
>          Fritz McEvoy
>          Sunrise Valley, CB (near Dingwall)



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<html>
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    <p>That is a fascinating update on breeding swallows.  I had no idea
      they would nest this late, but there should be plenty of time to
      fledge and build up strength for the long flight, I suppose. 
      They'll have to alter diets a little.  The deer flies are very
      abundant this year.  I hope they clean up on a few of them.  <br>
    </p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <p>Just today I lamented how much I miss our swallows that have long
      ago fledged and dispersed from the two active tree swallow houses
      this year in our Tupperville back yard (near Annapolis Royal).  We
      also use the plates to keep out unwanted tenants, chiefly
      starlings that despite our efforts still bred prolifically as
      usual, but at least not from our tree swallow nest boxes.  I also
      remarked this year that various barn and cliff swallow 'colonies'
      continue to expand, and have perhaps the barn swallows have
      returned to per-colapse numbers at some farmsteads, at least those
      that still operate as farms.  One can always hope.</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <p>Good luck with the Cape Breton swallows, and let us know how it
      goes.</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <p>Donna Crossland</p>
    <p>Tupperville, Annapolis County<br>
    </p>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2018-07-19 4:00 PM, Fritz McEvoy
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:DM3PR18MB0795665883E59F064BBD77DAB7520@DM3PR18MB0795.namprd18.prod.outlook.com">
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
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      <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;
        font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
        Hi All, </div>
      <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;
        font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
             Like most of NS late May &amp;  June were cold and wet here
        in the highlands. Tree Swallows arrived in late May and through
        most of June hung about waiting for the weather to warm up and
        flying insects to arrive. This never really happened and most of
        my breeding flock appeared to have moved on by late June. </div>
      <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;
        font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
             I expected this was going to be a very bad year for swallow
        breeding with lots of partial nests and dead chicks but about
        ten days ago they reappeared and started the mating process
        again.                Today I checked five of the boxes that
        have shown the most activity. One box had a used nest with
        breeding evidence, three had swallow chicks about half
        fledged and one just eggs. This seems very late for breeding
        here but I'm not complaining.</div>
      <div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;
        font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
              Another reason for the late breeding may have to do with
        the predator guards I put on most of my boxes in May. Although
        squirrels  are not - in my experience- swallow predators here,
        they do like to make the entrance holes bigger and then use the
        boxes as roosts or nests. The guards (a 3"x 3" Plexiglas plate
        with a 1 1/2" hole screwed over the box opening) seem to have
        w