[NatureNS] re ch. swifts vs. swallows et al. -- was Barn

Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 09:26:59 -0300
From: g4syth@staff.ednet.ns.ca
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Hi all,

This is all very interesting, as both barn swallows and chimney swifts  
are less numerous than most of us middle and older aged naturalists  
remember from our past.

When I grew up in Greenwich, Kings County NS there were barn swallows  
nesting in most of the barns in our community. From the west moving  
east: Murray Forsythe's barn had many nests, there were cattle but  
this barn is now gone; Richard Forsyth's ( now Harold's ) there were  
no cattle but swallows in many of the barns, they disappeared for a  
number of years but have returned in smaller numbers; Lewis Legge, now  
Stephen Legge, there were nests in all levels of the barn, cattle for  
only a few years that I remember, no nests presently; My dad's, George  
Forsyth's barn had barn swallows as I grew up, nests on three levels  
in some years, we had no livestock, there haven't been nests for  
twenty years; Lorna Huston, now Ivan Rafuse, a small modern garage,  
had swallow nests, never had livestock, the birds entered under the  
roll up door that was left open about four inches, these birds have  
gone; Herb Johnson's barn had no livestock, but barn swallow nests on  
two levels, this barn is now gone; Rhodes Hennigar's (now Doug), there  
has been no livestock for many years, but there is a continuous  
healthy population of barn swallows nesting on three levels of an old  
barn on the property, there is a source on mud in an area where they  
wash vegetables and fill farm machinery with water.

In all of these cases the barns or garage are of wood construction,  
they have openings that are accessible to the birds, even open  
doorways, and there is a source of mud. The fact that livestock are  
present I don't think is as important, livestock will almost guarantee  
that there is mud, but if there is some other reason that mud is  
available as at Doug Hennigar's they will still be attracted.

About twenty years ago I remember poking my head into an abandoned  
shed on the lower end of the Stewart Mtn Rd, in Lower Blomidon, there  
was a barn swallow nest in this building and the adults swooped and  
chattered as I looked inside the building. This was not a building  
being used for any purpose by people, and it had not been used for  
many years, but this pair of swallows found it attractive!

I'm sure that the combination of conditions that attract barn swallows  
to nest is known to barn swallows and might never be understood by all  
of us. I also think that just as some of us find some areas attractive  
for our living, and might not be attracted to other places, individual  
barn swallow pairs might nest in conditions that are not necessarily  
"typical". As important as nesting
is to barn swallow populations their time in Nova Scotia represents  
only one quarter of the year, there must be many other impacts on  
their population that are not related to nesting.

In any case there is a relaxing pleasure in seeing barn swallows  
swooping and coursing a lawn, hay field or pasture on a sunny summer  
day, we should all be jealous of the freedom as they reel, in seeming  
abandon, countering gravity as we are bound to our lawn chairs!


George E. Forsyth


Quoting "James W. Wolford" <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>:

> Regarding the chimney swift, the history is a bit complex and of
> course the mathematics of this is/are unknown.  Remember that before
> North Americans/Europeans built chimneys to which the swifts could
> adapt (which of course they did in spades), the main habitat for the
> swifts in North America and probably also in South America (wintering
> areas) was cavities in trunks and large branches of big trees that
> were old enough to have such fungus-or-other-related cavities.
> Needless to say, such habitats are long gone, and one wonders if
> humans and nature are capable of ever producing such again -- another
> question might be whether the swifts would ever evolve back to  natural
> cavities?  (Hopefully, artificial cavities/towers might  eventually
> replace the lost habitats of old hollow trees and chimneys  etc. with
> large enough openings for the entrance & exit of swifts.
>
> Another point to bring up is the foods of aerial insectivores like
> swifts, swallows, nighthawks, flycatchers, and ? and whether the
> likely problem with those insects might be amenable to any kind of
> corrective actions.  We probably will never be able to show cause and
> effect for the declines of these birds.  Another thing that has
> entered my mind is that agricultural chemicals are quite possibly
> parts of the problems, and they just might be affecting all sorts of
> kinds of biodiversity, other than flying insects.
>
> Cheers for now from Jim in Wolfville.
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Fritz McEvoy <fritzmcevoy@hotmail.com>
>> Date: July 11, 2013 3:18:42 PM ADT
>> To: NS NATURE <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
>> Subject: RE: [NatureNS] Barn Swallows and Chimney Swifts
>> Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>>
>> Hi Rob and All,
>>    I stand to be corrected here, but my understanding is that it    
>> was not only the old barns that were required but that farming;    
>> particularly the keeping of livestock; was also essential. The mud   
>>  and manure were used to build the nests and the insects the  
>> animals   attracted were a main food source.  We lost our local  
>> Barn  Swallows  shortly after the owners of the barns the swallows  
>> used  for nests,  which are still here BTW, got rid of the last of  
>> their  cows. All  the best.
>>                                         Fritz McEvoy
>>                                          Sunrise Valley, CB (near  Dingwall)
>>
>>
>> Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 09:25:49 -0700
>> From: rrtwoods@yahoo.com
>> Subject: [NatureNS] Barn Swallows and Chimney Swifts
>> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
>>
>> Not to take away from the rapid decline that these species and    
>> others are experiencing, I have wondered did these two species    
>> first benefit from mankind as the are both strongly associated with  
>>   man made objects. Were their numbers from the peaks 30-40 years   
>> ago  actually inflated due to man made structures being available.   
>> Prior  to the building of the large wooden barns across north   
>> america what  would have been the population of Barn Swallows.   
>> Suitable nesting  habitat would have been more limited and under   
>> much more  competition or predation.
>>
>> Todays modern barns are made of metal which are almost impossible    
>> to attach nest to and are much more BIO secure than the wooden    
>> barns of our forefathers.  The old brick chimneys that once    
>> abandoned, provided excellent habitat for the swifts are now    
>> falling in disrepair or are destroyed in site clean up. Both of    
>> these structures did not exist before the industrial age and are    
>> becoming limited now thus maybe populations of these species are    
>> actually returning to more normal levels.
>>
>> Owner of a wooden barn with 6 barn swallow nests
>>
>> Rob Woods
>> Georgefield NS
>>
>>
>>



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