Archive for September, 2006
Birmingham News, AL - Aug 27, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
We were driving through the Black Belt looking for kites, storks, anhingas and gallinules, when I noticed skeins of swallows on the wire. Northern rough-winged swallows, they were - seemingly a mile of rough-winged swallows. They were, to the general public, little brown birds on a wire, all perched in a row. How easy to overlook, I thought.
There are birds that draw attention wherever they gather. Bald eagles, for instance, seldom pass unnoticed. On the other hand, hundreds of species of birds exist “under the radar” to most of us, passing their lives, however extraordinary, in relative obscurity, little known or considered by the broader public.
The northern rough-winged swallow is such a bird. Of its kith, purple martins are widely admired and much sought-after members of the swallow family. And barn swallows, with their scissor-tails, rich plumage and darting flight, catch the eye of even the casual observer. But passing almost unnoticed among the swallows native to Alabama is the northern rough-winged swallow.
wallows all are slender, aerodynamic little birds with long, swept wings, short legs, and short, flat bills. Rough-wings are brown with notched tails, and as such can only be confused with bank swallows at this time of year. But the titmouse-sized rough-winged swallow is somewhat larger than the tiny bank swallow. And rough-winged swallows have a dingy belly and flanks, not the gleaming white underparts of bank swallows. The best quick ID tip, though is to look at the chin. Rough-wings are the only swallows with a gray-brown “smudge” on the chin and upper chest. Another way to identify rough-wings - they give a “Bronx cheer,” a short, rolling, “spppptt-sppptt-sppptt” sort of sound.
Migration is the only time you’ll find rough-winged swallows in great numbers. They are for the most part solitary birds, nesting in isolated pairs, unlike the large nesting colonies that other swallows employ. Rough-winged swallows are not picky about habitat, either. They may be found in urban, suburban or rural settings and will nest in any kind of hollow, crevice or declivity from drain pipes to burrows that they or other species may excavate.
This is the season when swallows of all species congregate in impressive numbers from roughly Montgomery south, readying themselves for their fall flight. It’s a fine time to drive south to witness thousands and thousands of swallows perching on power lines, hawking insects from over fields and ponds, preparing to leave us until next March.
Don’t you wonder about the name? It’s from their wings. Rough-winged swallows are the only swallows with serrations on the outer primary feathers. The purpose? Unknown. Paul H. Franklin is a naturalist and photographer who lives in Hoover and is director of Samford University’s Samford After Sundown programs. Write him at phfranklin36@yahoo.com.
September 22nd, 2006
foodtourist.com
Credit Cards: MC, Visa, AE
Open: Lunch and dinner daily
Price: Moderate
Score (/20): 13
Reviewed By
Sue Dyson and Roger McShane
Make sure that you get out at the right floor at this restaurant otherwise you might find yourself in the middle of some entertainment that is different to what you expect!
You need to be aware that many of the waiters here speak little English. Nevertheless it is worth persevering.
When you sit down you will be given a tray with a number of small containers of beautifully rich, oily tea. These are a perfect starter to the meal and also a perfect foil to the food.
You will also be given a small plate of pickled sweet cabbage. This is a wonderful way to stimulate the appetite and prepare you for the dishes to follow.
On the night we visited we tried the soyed goose one of the classic dishes of the region. We wanted to compare it with the similar dish served at the Mask of China in Melbourne. As it turned out, the Hong Kong dish appealed to us more. This was probably due to the excellence of the basic ingredient - the goose! Here it is quite fatty but very flavoursome (if you want the flavour you’ve got to have some fat).
But probably the most interesting dish of the evening was the steamed eel with preserved plums. The eel was cooked perfectly and the accompanying plums were the perfect foil to the main ingredient. You can buy preserved plums in many Chinese specialty shops in Canada, the USA and Australia. They are also very cheap, but they give the food a wonderful flavour.
Don’t go here if you are concerned about explaining what you want to waiters who are not fluent in English. However, if you persevere you will be rewarded with some wonderful food that is not available in Chinese restaurants in many western cities.
September 20th, 2006
.khiewchanta.com
A fun way to get children to eat their food - baby chicks made from potatoes and breaded shrimp in a nest of noodles. The noodles are optional, the birds look just as good if served in a basket.
Ingredients
200 gms Big Potatoes
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
10 Shrimp
2 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Coriander Root
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Egg
5 Tablespoons Breadcrumbs
Oil for Deep Frying
Black Sesame Seed (For the eyes!)
10 Tooth Picks
Noodles (Bami, Instant Noodles etc.)
Preparation
1. Whip the egg.
2. Pound the garlic and coriander root together.
3. Clean the shrimp, remove the shell but leave the tail on, be sure to cut down the back and remove the black thread gut.
4. Put a small lengthwise cut through the back of the shrimp, then bend the tail back on itself and bring it up through the cut you just made. This gives you the body and tail feathers of the chick.
5. Mix the pounded garlic and coriander over shrimp, together with the pepper and soy sauce.
6. Dip the shrimp in the whisked egg, then dip in the breadcrumbs to cover them.
7. Deep fry until the breadcrumbs are golden brown.
8. Peel the potatoes, cook in boiling water until cooked. Mash them with a little salt (no butter or milk, we want them firm!). Take some of the mash potato and roll into small balls, one for each bird.
9. Cook the noodles in a pan of boiling water, drain and set on the plate. Take a fork and swirl them around the plate so they look like a nest.
10. Assemble the birds by taking a shrimp, placing one of the potato balls on it, and adding 2 sesame seeds for the eyes. Break a toothpick in half and push it into the potato to form the beak.
11. Set them out in the noodle next and serve.
Posted by Appon at July 4, 2006 12:20 PM
Comments
what a pretty presentation! I love your blog and wonderful recipes. This one is extremely beautiful, thanks for sharing with your readers!
September 20th, 2006
CNNÂ - 7 hours ago
LAKE PLACID, New York (AP) — As dusk shrouded the summit of Whiteface Mountain, Juan Klavins aimed his headlamp at the bird in his left hand, its head between his fingers and its wing extended to expose a crimson vein.
The 26-year-old Argentine researcher deftly pierced transparent skin with a hypodermic needle and filled two fine glass tubes with blood to be tested for mercury. The bird craned its neck to eye the swarming gnats, impatient to resume feeding.
The fledgling was a rare Bicknell’s Thrush, subject of a long-term study by the Vermont Institute of Natural Science on the bird’s breeding grounds at high elevations in the Northeast and its wintering grounds in the Caribbean.
Bicknell’s Thrush is a cousin of the American Robin but is smaller and slimmer, with a brown back and wings, chestnut tail and speckled throat. Unlike the common Robin, Bicknell’s is rarely seen, living in dense fir forests on high mountaintops. It is identified more often by its lilting flute-like song than by sight.
Although Bicknell’s is not formally listed as endangered or threatened, it is among the rarest of American songbirds.
“The reason we started studying this bird is that it’s not only very rare, but it also requires a very specific habitat that faces a variety of threats,” said Chris Rimmer, who started the Bicknell’s study in 1992 with a colleague at the institute.
The species breeds only in scrubby boreal forests above 2,800 feet (840 meters) on top of mountains in New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Vermont and eastern Canada.
“It’s a difficult bird to study because it’s distributed across a fragmented range of mountaintops which we sometimes refer to as ’sky islands.’ We estimate the total population to be between 20,000 and 40,000 birds,” Rimmer said.
The bird’s habitat faces potential threats from ski area development, communications tower construction, wind energy projects, acid rain, mercury and global warming.
“Every one we’ve sampled has mercury in its system, although we don’t know yet whether the level is high enough to adversely affect them,” Rimmer said. “This was a very surprising and compelling finding for the science community.”
For the last five years, an annual census by volunteers called Mountain Birdwatch has documented a 7 percent annual decline of Bicknell’s, Rimmer said. “We really need more time to make any meaningful conclusions, but that does provide further evidence that we need to be concerned.”
It has been well documented that loons and other water birds suffer neurological and reproductive problems linked to high mercury levels from eating fish. Now, it appears mercury is moving up the food chain from soil to insects to birds, even on the highest mountains, Rimmer said.
Like acid rain, much of the mercury causing pollution in the Northeast drifts from coal-burning power plants in the Midwest.
Among all the potential threats to Bicknell’s habitat, global climate change is the most worrisome, Rimmer said. “If current trends continue, over the next 50 years we’re going to see a dramatic change and loss of the balsam fir forests that these birds require,” he said.
There are also serious threats to the bird’s winter habitat, the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where 90 percent of the total population of Bicknell’s Thrush is believed to winter, Rimmer said.
The Olympic Regional Development Authority in Lake Placid, which operates a state-owned ski center on Whiteface, launched a project this summer in cooperation with environmental groups to raise money to protect Bicknell’s habitat on Hispaniola. The ski center scaled back expansion plans and funded a study of Bicknell’s habitat on Whiteface in 2005.
In the Adirondacks, nearly all mountaintops are part of the state-owned Forest Preserve, where tree-cutting and development are banned. As a further protection, Gov. George Pataki has declared all state-owned mountains above 2,800 feet (840 meters) to be Bird Conservation Areas. About 70,000 acres (28,000 hectares) in the Adirondacks support breeding populations of Bicknell’s.
Bicknell’s Thrush was considered a subspecies of the more widespread Gray-Cheeked Thrush until 1995, when a Canadian taxonomist demonstrated it was a distinct species.
Because Bicknell’s has been identified as a species so recently, it makes an intriguing research subject, said Brendan Collins, 32, a Vermont school teacher who did graduate work on Bicknell’s and spends vacations working for the Vermont Institute.
“Every year, we learn so much about this species that wasn’t known before,” Collins said.
For example, males outnumber females 2-to-1, and both males and females mate with different partners. Each nest has young from different males. As a result, each nest usually has several different males feeding the babies.
Institute researchers have had the rare experience of capturing the same bird in both its summer and winter territories.
“In 1995, we banded an adult male on Mount Mansfield in Vermont, and six months later the same bird flew into our mist net on a remote mountain in the Dominican Republic,” Rimmer said. “We caught the same bird again on Mount Mansfield in the summers of 1996 and 1997.”
After they published a paper about that in 2001, the researchers netted a Bicknell’s on another mountain in the Dominican Republic in 2004 that they had banded the previous summer on Vermont’s Stratton Mountain.
“It provides a compelling biological link between Vermont and the Dominican Republic, and underscores the need for conservation on both ends of the bird’s range,” he said.
Collecting the data requires long days in the field. Before their trip to Whiteface, Collins, Klavins and 22-year-old Pat Johnson of Hanover, New Hampshire, awoke at 3:45 a.m. on a Catskill peak 150 miles (241 kilometers) to the south, finished sampling birds there, carried 80-pound (36-kilogram) packs down the mountain and drove to the Adirondacks.
In the fading light on Whiteface, they strung 800 meters of mist nets along a rocky trail and went to work collecting blood and feather samples, measuring bills and wings, noting body fat and parasites, clamping identification bands on legs, and writing down numbers by the light of headlamps and flashlights.
After a few hours dozing in sleeping bags on the ground, they arose at 4 a.m. for the morning netting, followed by an afternoon nap on sun-warmed rocks.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
September 20th, 2006
cr.nps.gov
CLIFF SWALLOW. Petrochelidon lunifrons lunifrons (Say)
Field characters.—Body size about that of Linnet or Junco; wings long and narrow; tail short, practically square-ended. (See pl. 46d). Forehead creamy white; back, wings, and tail black-appearing; rump yellowish brown; cheeks and chin dark reddish brown, with a blackish patch on throat. Voice: A weak chuckle.
Occurrence.—Common summer visitant locally at the lower altitudes on both sides of Sierra Nevada. Recorded from Snelling and near Lagrange eastward to Bower Cave. Also, east of mountains, near Williams Butte and on Rush Creek. Local distribution controlled largely by availability of rough rock walls or of weathered buildings upon which to place nests. In colonies of few to many pairs. Forages over open fields or smooth water.
The Cliff Swallow is probably the best known of all our species of swallows because of its common occurrence about human habitations. Originally, as its name indicates, this bird placed its nests on the rocky walls of cañons and on river bluffs, in consequence of which it was correspondingly restricted as to local occurrence. With man’s erection of barns and other rough-walled buildings, the Cliff Swallows took to nesting on these structures and so appeared in many new localities. In addition to extending its local range, it is certain that this swallow, in many parts of the west, has increased in aggregate numbers.
The Cliff Swallow is the most colonial of our six species of the swallow family. Wherever found it is represented in some numbers and its nests are placed in the closest sort of mutual proximity. At Pleasant Valley on May 25, 1915, ten or a dozen pairs had their nests on the weather-beaten station house, and near Merced Falls on May 28, the same year, a colony of about 20 pairs was nesting on the undercut walls of a small gully in the prairie. (See pl. 47a). Near Lagrange on May 6, 1919, an assemblage of fully 75 pairs was busily engaged in constructing nests on the face of a stratified cliff at the side of the Tuolumne River. At the McCarthy ranch east of Coulterville, and at Bower Cave, Cliff Swallow nests were seen on the inside of farm buildings, access to the interior in each case being provided by a large open doorway through which the birds could fly to and from their nests.
The swallows of the Yosemite section can be divided into three groups according to their manner of nesting. The Rough-winged Swallow nests in a hole in a bank, the Western Martin and the Tree and Violet-green swallows seek natural cavities in trees or, in the latter species, also in rocks, while the Barn and Cliff swallows being skilled masons build elaborate nests outside of any cavity, using mud for structural material.
The home of the Cliff Swallow is shaped like a gourd or retort, having a rather narrow entrance and expanding basally to accommodate the nest proper. (See pl. 47a). The structure is built entirely of mud (save for a slight lining of soft fibrous materials) which is gathered and applied wet in the form of small pellets. The building of such a nest is a labor which must extend over several days in order that the basal portion of the nest may dry and thus gain strength to hold the later additions. When a nest is well under construction the observer finds it composed of mud in several stages, from the entirely dry base to the wet, most recently applied, material at the rim. While gathering the small rounded pieces of mud the birds at most barely alight upon the ground, balancing with their wings upraised and quivering. As the source of supply for mud is often at some distance from the colony the total amount of energy expended in the construction of a nest by a single pair of birds is considerable. Moreover, work must be suspended at frequent intervals in order that the birds may hunt for food.
The Cliff Swallow arrives in the western part of the Yosemite region some time in March, but the birds there do not begin nesting until early May. This delay is probably due to the relative paucity of insect life in April as compared with the plenty in May and June. When the adults arrive they can find sufficient forage for themselves, but at that season there is not enough to enable them to feed a brood of young. Hence they delay until the food supply is adequate for the increased needs of nesting time. East of the mountains, near Williams Butte, in 1916, the birds returned for the season on April 27.
September 19th, 2006
tomsdomain.com
[These versions are not exactly the same fable, but are similar enough to be included on the same page.]
It happened that a Countryman was sowing some hemp seeds in a field where a Swallow and some other birds were hopping about picking up their food. “Beware of that man,” quoth the Swallow. “Why, what is he doing?” said the others. “That is hemp seed he is sowing; be careful to pick up every one of the seeds, or else you will repent it.” The birds paid no heed to the Swallow’s words, and by and by the hemp grew up and was made into cord, and of the cords nets were made, and many a bird that had despised the Swallow’s advice was caught in nets made out of that very hemp. “What did I tell you?” said the Swallow.
Townsend version (The Owl and The Birds)
An owl, in her wisdom, counseled the Birds that when the acorn first began to sprout, to pull it all up out of the ground and not allow it to grow. She said acorns would produce mistletoe, from which an irremediable poison, the bird-lime, would be extracted and by which they would be captured. The Owl next advised them to pluck up the seed of the flax, which men had sown, as it was a plant which boded no good to them. And, lastly, the Owl, seeing an archer approach, predicted that this man, being on foot, would contrive darts armed with feathers which would fly faster than the wings of the Birds themselves. The Birds gave no credence to these warning words, but considered the Owl to be beside herself and said that she was mad. But afterwards, finding her words were true, they wondered at her knowledge and deemed her to be the wisest of birds. Hence it is that when she appears they look to her as knowing all things, while she no longer gives them advice, but in solitude laments their past folly.
L’Estrange version
There was a country fellow at work a sowing his grounds, and a swallow (being a bird famous for providence and foresight) call’d a company of little birds about her, and bad ‘em take good notice what that fellow was a doing. You must know (says the swallow) that all the fowlers nets and snares are made of hemp, or flax; and that’s the seed that he is now a sowing. Pick it up in time for fear of what may come on’t. In short, they put it off, till it took root; and then again, till it was sprung up into the blade. Upon this, the swallow told ‘em once for all, that it was not yet too late to prevent the mischief, if they would but bestir themselves, and set heartily about it; but finding that no heed was given to what she said; she e’en bad adieu to her old companions in the woods, and so hetook herself to a city life, and to the conversation of men. This flax and hemp came in time to be gather’d, and wrought, and it was this swallows fortune to see several of the very same birds that she had forewarn’d, taken in nets, made of the very stuff she told them off. They came at last to be sensible of the folly of slipping their opportunity; but they were lost beyond all redemption first.
Moral
Wise men read effects in their causes, but fools will not believe them till ’tis too late to prevent the mischief. Delay in these cases is mortal.
[Birdlime = A sticky material put on twigs to trap small birds.]
September 19th, 2006
naturesvilla.com
Barn Swallows breed from Alaska across Canada, throughout the United States, and south through central Mexico. With the proliferation of human-provided nesting sites, the North American Barn Swallow population has increased in most places during the 20th century. Numbers are especially up in the central and eastern United States. Barn Swallows show strong fidelity to their natal site, most nesting within 20 miles of their birthplace and some much closer. Members of a pair typically stay together to raise a second brood and return in successive years to the same nest site. If you have the right habitat, barn swallows are easy to attract. A simple nesting perch may be placed under the eaves, inside a garage or barn, or on the side of a building.
Tree Swallows are found all across the continental United States and Canada, and in parts of Alaska, as far north as cavities are available, avoiding only the southeastern corner of the U.S. Tree Swallows prefer open habitats, such as the edges of woods, and areas near water, including marshes, shorelines and swamps. Tree Swallows are quite tolerant of humans. Nesting is quite synchronous in Tree Swallows; that is, females tend to begin nesting within a week or 10 days, usually in April, of their neighbors. Tree Swallows nest in natural tree cavities, woodpecker holes and nest boxes. Tree Swallow houses should be placed 5 to 15 feet high on a post or tree in open areas. They should be spaced 30 to 100 feet apart with the entrance hole facing east.
Violet-green Swallows are found from the Rocky Mountains west to the Pacific coast. Their range spans from central Alaska and central Canada south to the Mexico’s highlands. Violet-green Swallows prefer open, deciduous, or mixed coniferous-deciduous forests containing ponderosa pine, aspen, willow and spruce trees. In the northern part of its range, this species breeds at lower elevations on the coast and in wooded canyons. In the southern part of their range, they breed at higher elevations (2,000 to 3,000 meters). Violet-green Swallows nest in cliff crevices, natural tree cavities, woodpecker holes, in old nests of Banks and Cliff Swallow, under the eaves of buildings, and in nest boxes. They can nest in close association with Cliff Swallows, Tree Swallows, White-throated Swifts, and Western Bluebirds. One report documented a pair of Violet-greens assisting a pair of Western Bluebirds in raising young. The swallows guarded the nest and tended the bluebird nestlings, and after the bluebirds fledged, the swallows used the nest site. In the northern portion of their range, pair formation begins in mid-April and breeding begins in late May. In the southern portion, breeding begins in early May. Violet-green Swallow houses should be placed 9 to 15 feet high in open or broken deciduous or mixed deciduous-coniferous forests, wooded canyons, or edges of dense forests.
Barn Swallows show strong fidelity to their natal site, most nesting within 20 miles of their birthplace and some much closer. Members of a pair typically stay together to raise a second brood and return in successive years to the same nest site. Barn Swallows prefer an open-front nesting box. This nesting perch may be placed under the eaves, inside a garage or barn, or on the side of a building. It offers protection from elements and requires no maintenance.
Swallows and Swifts - aerial feeders
wildwatch.com
by Duncan Butchart
Although swallows and swifts are superficially similar in appearance, and often pose identification problems for beginners, they are actually unrelated. Scientists have not yet determined the closest relatives of the swallows (which include the martins), but they belong to a large assemblage of passerine birds including warblers and larks. Swifts, on the other hand, are related to the New World hummingbirds (with which they share similar wing bone structures) although the ancestry is ancient.
CONVERGENT EVOLUTION
The fact that swallows and swifts have more similar body shapes to one another than they do to their close relatives, is a result of convergent evolution. Both groups of birds are specialized aerial feeders of tiny invertebrates and have long pointed wings which allow them superb maneuverability. Interestingly, the nocturnal nightjars, which are considerably larger but also feed on airborne insects, have a wing to body shape ratio very similar to the swallows and swifts. All these birds catch their prey by keeping their mouths open as they fly through the air.
HARBINGERS OF SPRING… OR AUTUMN
In Africa, there are 22 species of swift in 8 genera, and 38 species of swallow and martin in 7 genera. The best known of all the swallows is undoubtedly the Barn Swallow (which was known as the ‘European Swallow’ until recently). This bird has a vast cosmopolitan range, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. In Africa, these familiar birds are primarily n n-breeding visitors from Europe where - in places such as the England and Holland - they breed mostly on man-made structures and their seasonal return sees them as harbingers of Spring. In sub-Saharan Africa, large flocks of these swallows roost in reedbeds at night where they are vulnerable to capture by people, and this mass-predation is proving to be of increasing conservation concern. Each April, in anticipation of cooler and shorter days in southern Africa, huge numbers of Barn Swallows can be seen aggregating on overhead wires as flocks prepare for their 10 000km journey back to Europe. Like other migratory birds, the effects of global warming are already showing signs of influencing their seasonal movements.
NESTS OF MUD AND STRAW
All swallows build cup-shaped nests from mud pellets and straw, and often situate the structure in the shade of a roof awning, bridge or some other sheltered spot. Most species of swallow and martin are gregarious and in Africa, it is not uncommon to see several species foraging together. The South African Cliff Swallow and Grey-rumped Swallow breed colonially, but most of the other species nest alone. Among the more commonly encountered swallows in southern and east Africa are the Wire-tailed Swallow which is always found close to water, and the Lesser Striped Swallow which often nests on houses and other buildings. The Blue Swallow is an endangered species dependent upon high-altitude grasslands which - especially in South Africa - have shrunk in the face of expanding timber plantations.
LIVING WITH MANKIND
In contrast to the often colorful swallows, the swifts are more difficult to separate. Most are predominantly black in colour, with or without white rumps and throats. Over much of Africa, the Little Swift and White-rumped Swift are the most frequently encountered species, although the Common Swift which is a non-breeding visitor during the southern summer can be locally abundant. These and other species frequently nest under bridges or on the sides of city skyscrapers. With its white belly, the large Alpine Swift is a distinctive species in mountainous regions. The African Palm Swift is pale brown in colour and even more slender and elongated than other swifts; it breeds only among the dry leaves of palm trees and has expanded its range into places like Johannesburg where these trees are commonly cultivated.
KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SWALLOWS AND SWIFTS
There are several key differences between swallows and swifts. Swifts generally have narrower, sickle-shaped wings and do not perch between foraging flights (in fact, their extremely short legs and toe structure does not allow them to perch at all and they can only cling to rough surfaces!). Not only do swifts capture all their food in flight, but these remarkable birds sometimes even sleep and mate in the air! Swallows tend to fly closer to the ground than swifts and have distinctly broader wings. Many species have long forked tails ending in thin streamers which grow to a maximum length during the breeding season, but the martins typically have shorter squared-off tails.
A CHALLENGE FOR BIRDWATCHERS
Although swifts and swallows pose an identification challenge for beginner birdwatchers (and are often ignored by experienced ones!), they are fascinating birds whose existence is closely tied to that of mankind.
- Duncan Butchart -
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September 18th, 2006
.theava.com
by Rob Lee
Whether the Giants are winning games in big fistfuls, or can’t produce as much offense as a foul-mouthed grandmother, there’s always a good reason to go to their ballpark. I’m not talking about the starlings foraging in the outfield grass, or the hordes of Western gulls that begin gathering faithfully during the seventh-inning stretch (although the best seats for my proposed entertainment are in the upper deck, with the gulls).
I’m speaking of the barn swallow and the white-throated swift, foraging on all those beer-crazed bugs rising off the crowd. While these birds are seemingly quite similar — long, swept-back wings, the aerodynamics of great fliers — the swallow is a song bird and the swift is not; actually more closely related to hummingbirds.
Sitting high in this bird observation platform, formerly known as the Giants’ home, you’ll notice that the two birds have different flying techniques. The swallow cuts a graceful, complicated swath through the air, constantly maneuvering to pick off one insect after another, while the swift is just that; flashing under the stadium lights like a jet, using a few quick, powerful strokes of its wings and then a short glide, eating the tiny insects — “aerial plankton” — in its path.
The white-throated swift may be the fastest bird in North America, once estimated to have fled a swooping falcon at more than 200 mph. It could easily keep pace with, inspect and then pass a soaring Barry Bonds homer. Both of these birds have wings “built for speed,” but the swallow has slender, flexible wing bones suitable for its elegant flight, while the swift has shorter, more massive bones (and long primary feathers), with which it can achieve the stiff, superfast wing beats that give it surpassing speed.
Swallows typically fly lower to the ground, pursuing insects (their hard work providing a very nutritious diet), while swifts fly high, on a line, and much longer distances, hunting for clouds of anthropoids to charge through repeatedly. While the swift’s flight uses less energy, it also yields less nutrition in the types of insects caught. (Swifts typically fly more than 500 miles a day, and, as they are long-lived for small birds — larger swifts may live more than 20 years — well over a million miles in their lifetime.)
Both birds do nearly everything in flight, including drinking, bathing, courting, and, among swifts, copulating. Some swifts, after mounting high in the sky, are even thought to sleep in flight.
Flying is so central to the lives of these birds that the swallow can only walk with difficulty and the swift can’t walk at all. Swallows have tiny, weak legs and feet that only allow perching on such things as wires or thin twigs. Swifts’ legs are virtually nonexistent, but they have tiny, strongly clawed feet, all four toes facing forward, with which they can hang on vertical surfaces, such as cliffs or buildings.
Barn swallows are a really lovely bird, artistically colored in blue, rust and buff with a long swallowtail, while the swift is basic black and white.
Barn swallows raise four to five chicks in their mud-and-grass cup nest, usually affixed under the eaves of a building or beneath a bridge. (These swallows have used human structures for nesting so widely, and for so long, their natural sites are virtually forgotten.) White-throated swifts raise a similar brood in very inaccessible crevices in cliffs, and sometimes buildings. Gathering twigs on the wing from dead trees, they build a cup nest, which they cement in place, and together, with saliva.
The close proximity to people with which these swallows consistently nest makes them one of the easiest nesting birds to observe, while this swift is just the opposite, with relatively little known about its nesting behaviors.
Both birds migrate, but the white-throated swift doesn’t go very far, usually not beyond the Southwest. The barn swallow is a champion long-distance migrator, some birds going 7,000 miles each way. Both of these species are social, usually found in small to large flocks, although the individuals I saw at the ballpark were alone.
I can’t promise the birds will show up when you go to a game, but if they do, it will be a joy to watch their two styles of mastery above the crowd, the two species, in a way, mirroring the combination of relaxation and intensity that characterizes baseball.
September 18th, 2006
BBC News  Found 12 hours ago
A family of swallows which caused chaos after nesting in the entrance of a sheriff court building has moved out - to the relief of staff and visitors.
The birds constructed their mud nest at Stirling court several weeks ago and have caused a nuisance by dive-bombing in and out of the entrance.
The swallows had to be left alone because of their protected status.
But they have now left to join their parents, who made the 9,000km journey from Africa in the spring.
The swallows face a perilous return journey along with other African migrants, including house martins.
RSPB public affairs officer Tom Marshall said: “With so many people still removing birds nests illegally every year, we’re very pleased that the sheriff court allowed the birds to nest without disturbance, with what seems to be a great outcome for all those involved - including the birds.”
The Stirling nest was one of several unusual swallow homes discovered this summer, including another at Dornoch Sheriff Court in Sutherland and at Markinch Railway Station in Fife.
September 15th, 2006
wdfw.wa.gov
Swallows are migratory songbirds that occur and breed in Washington from spring to fall. They are sparrow-sized birds with long, pointed wings and streamlined bodies developed for fast, acrobatic flight. They are seen swooping and flying over fields, orchards, lakes, and anywhere else that flying insects are abundant.
Seven members of the swallow family breed in Washington. Of these seven species, barn and cliff swallows regularly build mud nests attached to buildings, a process that sometimes brings them into conflict with humans. Because of their close association with humans, this chapter focuses on these two species.
A field guide is helpful for identification of these and other swallow species and learning about their distribution throughout Washington. Popular field guides are listed under “Additional Information.”
Facts about Swallows
Food and Feeding Behavior
• Swallows are insectivores, catching a variety of insects in midair with their wide-gaped bills and expert flight. Barn swallows eat some berries, seeds, and dead insects from the ground, particularly during bad weather. Swallows will fly several miles from their nest site to forage.
• Long periods of continuous rainfall make it difficult for adult swallows to find food, occasionally causing young birds to die.
• Swallows drink mid-flight; as they fly over water they dip their bill to the surface to drink.
Nest and Nest Sites
• Barn and cliff swallows construct nests formed from mud pellets that they collect in their beaks. Barn swallow nests are cup shaped (Fig. 1); cliff swallow nests are gourd-shaped (Fig. 2). The interior of both these birds’ nests contains an inner cup lined with grass, hair, and feathers. Historic nesting sites of both barn and cliff swallows include cliffs, walls of canyons, and vertical banks protected from rain.
• Today, barn swallows almost always build nests on eaves, bridges, docks, or other man made structures that have a ledge that can support the nest, a vertical wall to which it can be attached, and a roof.
• Cliff swallow nests are built on vertical walls, natural or manmade, frequently with some sort of sheltering overhang. Freeways, bridges, barns, and other large buildings are regularly used.
• Barn swallows usually nest in single pairs; cliff swallows nest in colonies that may contain a dozen to over 500 nesting pairs.
• Barn and cliff swallow nests are prone to external parasite infestations. Colonies may not be reoccupied because of heavy infestations, and if parasite populations become too great, both species will prematurely desert their nests, abandoning their young.
Reproduction
• Time from start of nest building to departure of young is 44 to 58 days.
• Nest building is done by both sexes and begins around April. Both parents take turns incubating three to five eggs, which hatch after 12 to 17 days.
• Brood parasitism is common among cliff swallows. Females will lay eggs in other females’ nests and will also carry eggs in their beaks from their own nests to the nests of others.
• Both sexes care for the young, which begin to fly at 20 to 25 days of age.
• After learning to fly, the young remain in the nest, or near it, to be fed by parents and to roost at night. They leave the nest after a few days and will remain in the area for several weeks.
• Barn and cliff swallows can raise two clutches per year. Re-nesting will occur if nests or eggs are destroyed. For example, nests may fall because they were built too rapidly, or may crumble because of prolonged wet or humid weather.
Mortality and Longevity
• Young swallows may fall out of their nests or die from nest infestations of blowfly and other parasitic insects and mites.
• Other deaths of young occur from severe hot or cold temperatures, fallen nests, and predators, including crows, ravens, magpies, starlings, house sparrows, domestic cats, rats, and tree squirrels.
• Although they are still common in Washington, Breeding Bird Census data indicate that barn swallows have decreased significantly here since 1980.
Viewing Swallows
The flowing flight of swallows can be enjoyed from dawn to dusk. Barn swallows are agile flyers that come to within inches of the ground to catch flying insects.
Cliff swallows glide, soar, and circle more than barn swallows do, and are often seen higher in the sky. When not in flight, swallows can be seen perched on utility wires, TV antennas, and on dead branches in large trees. Young swallows can be observed sticking their heads out of the nest, begging for food when a parent arrives.
Mud Sources
Barn and cliff swallows travel up to a half-mile to gather mud from the edges of ponds, puddles, and ditches. Gathering mud and constructing nests are social activities for cliff swallows; even unmated swallows may build a nest that goes unused. To find one of their mud sources, look for swallows landing on the ground—they rarely do this at times other than when nest building. The birds will remain on the ground for a minute or so and then fly off to a nest site. The collection site will be marked with numerous small holes made by the birds as they poke their beaks into the mud several times to get a good load. You may also see swallows flying with feathers or grass—materials used in the final stages of nest building.
Calls and Songs
The barn swallow’s song is a series of twitters and gurgles. They emit a soft wit wit call when feeding with other swallows, and when approaching their nests. A louder version of this call is given when there is possible danger near the nest, such as at your approach. The cliff swallow’s call is a low, soft, husky verr or churr, sounding like the squeaking of a door with rusty hinges. The song is a series of thin, strained, drawn-out rattling sounds that is shorter and simpler than the song of the barn swallow.
Preventing Conflicts
Many people enjoy swallows nesting on or around their homes. Colonies of cliff swallows on school grounds can provide excellent opportunities for study. The anticipation of the swallows’ arrival in the spring is exciting, watching parents feeding their young is a wonderful sight, and swallows consume thousands of flying insects that are considered pests.
It has been speculated that one reason swallows choose to nest on door stoops, light fixtures, and porch fronts is because the close proximity to humans keeps crows and other predators away. The birds will even risk cat predation and human vandalism and nest close to the ground if the location is in a place frequented by humans.
The barn swallow’s close association with humans in Europe goes back over 2,000 years. Thus, when you thwart a barn or cliff swallow’s nesting effort, you may be denying the birds their only chance at successful reproduction.
To prevent conflicts or remedy problems:
Manage swallow droppings: Conflicts with swallows occur when these birds nest close to humans, primarily because of the droppings and other debris they deposit.
When swallows first hatch, the parents eat their droppings, which keeps the nest clean and insect free. After a few days, the adults carry the droppings (which are encased in a fecal sac made from clean mucous membrane) away from the nest to prevent detection by predators. After about the twelfth day, the young back up to the edge of the nest and defecate out over the rim.
Placing newspaper or some similar material where droppings accumulate can solve the problem. As necessary, the paper and droppings can be added to a compost pile, dug into the ground (droppings make wonderful fertilizer), or placed in the garbage. Similarly, a blanket or sheet can be used to cover a car or structure, and moved when needed.
Another solution is to install a board under the nest(s) to catch the droppings and debris (Fig. 3). Because of its close proximity to the nest, the board should be cleaned as needed to prevent infestations of insects and mites that may live in the accumulated debris. Before attaching the board, observe the swallows comings and goings to prevent installing something that could interfere with the birds accessing their nest.
Barriers include any physical structure placed between the swallow and the structure. A permit is not required for this method if it is done before the birds arrive, during nest building when there are no eggs or young in the nest, or after the birds have left for the winter. If swallows have eggs or young in the nest, exclusion may not be used without a permit (see “Legal Status”).
To prevent barn swallows from nesting on door jambs, window jambs, and other sites on the side of a building, cover the area with bird-netting or 1-inch mesh chicken wire. Drape the material from the outer edge of an eave down to the side of the building (Fig. 4). Remove wrinkles and folds that could trap or entangle swallows or other birds.
Bird netting and chicken wire are available from nurseries, hardware stores, and farm supply centers. Some pest-control companies sell a heavy-duty netting material with a larger mesh than common black netting used to protect fruit from birds. The netting is not as likely to create problems for songbirds, which sometimes get caught in the smaller mesh netting. To find the product, search the Internet for “bird control supplies” or look in your phone book under “Pest Control.”
Attach the barrier using staples, brass cup-hooks, adhesive backed hook-and-loop Velcro, trash-bag ties, or other fasteners. To avoid unsightly rust stains, use only rust-resistant fasteners. The barrier may also be first stapled to or wrapped once or twice around wood laths, which are then attached to the structure. This technique can also be modified to keep swallows from entering a breezeway, or similar sites, to nest.
Another technique is to hang a curtain of bird netting or chicken wire from the eave (Fig. 4). The curtain should be 3 to 4 inches from the wall and extend down from the eave 18 inches or more. A well done application under the eaves is nearly invisible from 50 feet because it is in a shaded area and gets obscured by the shadows.
A solution for small areas is to install aluminum foil, aluminum flashing, or heavy plastic over the spot where swallow nests are unwanted. The smooth surface will prevent swallows from adhering mud to the wall. Painting the area with a glossy latex paint may also be effective. It may be possible to offer barn swallows an optional nesting site by constructing a nest platform (Fig. 5).
Note: Hawk, owl, and snake models, noisemakers, revolving lights, red-and-silver flash tape, and hanging pie tins are unlikely to deter swallows.
Nest removal: At the first sign of nest building, remove the nest. Note: All swallows are protected under the law. You cannot disturb them once they lay their eggs in the nest (see “Legal Status”).
Usually nests can be washed down with a water hose or knocked down with a pole. Because swallows are persistent at rebuilding nests, you will need to continually remove the nest mud for several days until the birds stop. Swallows are strongly attracted to old nests or to the remnants of deteriorated nests, so all traces of mud should be removed.
For information on what to do if young swallows fall from a nest, see the handout, “Baby Birds out of the Nest.”
Public Health Concerns
Swallows are not a significant source of any infectious disease that can be transmitted to humans or domestic animals.
Legal Status
Swallows are federally protected. Any permit to lethally control these species would need to be issued from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and would only be issued in very extreme cases. Some examples are concerns for aircraft safety from a nesting colony at an airport or potential food contamination from a colony over a loading area at a food-processing center.
In most cases a permit for lethal control will not be issued for swallows nesting on a residence or other buildings and causing aesthetic damage. A permit is not required to remove swallow nests under construction that do not contain an adult, any new eggs or young, or nests abandoned after the breeding season.
If an adult swallow is occupying a half-built nest, or a fully built nest without eggs, then the law protects it.
Additional Information
Books
Ehrlich, Paul R., et al. The Birder’s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.
Nehls, Harry B. Familiar Birds of the Northwest: Covering Birds Commonly found in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Northern California, and Western Canada. Portland, OR: Audubon Society of Portland, 1989.
Morse, Robert W., et al. Birds of the Puget Sound Region, R.W. Morse Company, 2003.
Peterson, Roger Tory. A Field Guide to Western Birds. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2002.
Udvardy, Miklos D. F. Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds[–]Western Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
Internet Resources
eNature: a searchable nature database
Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage
Seattle Audubon’s Birds of Washington State
Wildlife Control Supplies
September 15th, 2006
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