Today we visited our Bank Swallow colony and finally saw some action. When we first arrived it was quiet no Bank Swallows, just some noisy Kingfishers which I predict are nesting in other close banks. But after a few minutes passed we began to see some individuals flying around. When we got down to the site there was lots of action above the bank. There where anywhere from 20-40 pairs flying around. The adults where pretty shy and would not come down and feed the chicks. They would come as a big group then disappear all of a sudden, presumably down to the river to feed.
We sat in the bush and watched for about two and a half hours. With a little patience we were able to see several chicks, and we even saw two fledge. It has been quite the wait but it was very nice to see these guys once and for all.
Front and back of Swallow Bank
For fun I decided to mark a picture with new nesting burrows, active burrows, and active reused burrows on the front of the bank. While looking over footage of adult’s flying in and pictures of the chicks I began the two and a half hour task of plotting the nest sites as accurately as possible. I used a photo taken in March of the face of the bank and added the above. Red dots for new burrows, green dots for new active burrows, and black arrows for active burrows that where being reused from past seasons. I was quite pleased to find that 26 new burrows had been made, four of them being active, and eight old burrows had been reused and where active. Being so late in the season the results for burrows that where reused most likely is not 100% accurate. But on our visit in late May early June there was no activity. Furthermore one or two new burrows could have been skipped because of their location in a shaded part of the bank. What I mean by that is some area appeared to be cracks or indents could have indeed been burrows. Only the front was surveyed because only the front of the bank was being used.
Each individual site that was active on our visit (07/26/10) was labelled with a letter and number. I hope to be able to make a spread sheet and record new data from active holes in the bank every year. Below is a photo of the bank from mid March, the one mentioned above, with the marks on it.
Once again the:
The green dot means a new burrow that was active.
The red dot means a new inactive burrow.
The black arrow means an old burrow that was actively being reused.
Here is exactly what we saw at each one:
A-001 ~§~ Adult flew in and out.
A-002 ~§~ Adult feeding chick(s)
A-003 ~§~ Adult flew in.
A-004 ~§~ Adult flew in and out several times.
A-005 ~§~ One chick seen.
Adult seen griping edge and feeding one chick.
Two chicks seen.
Two chick’s fledged and another appeared.
A-006 ~§~ Three chicks seen.
A-007 ~§~ Adult flew in.
A-008 ~§~ Chicks heard and adult seen going in.
A-009 ~§~ One chick seen.
A-010 ~§~ Adult seen going in.
A-011 ~§~ One chick seen.
A-012 ~§~ Two adults seen one gripping burrows edge, and one inside.
Five little heads (A-005 and A-006)
Scratches from the Cliff Swallows on nesting bank
We also stopped at another supposed nesting site. All we saw where two adults come out of burrows and there was no significant evidence to support nesting. There were about 50-80 holes at this site. I suspect that this is a roost site for the colony we had been visiting.
One of the two roosting banks (the other was in a natural bank and was further away)
On our way up we stopped at Melgund Lake, and had some nice sightings. Just standing in one spot we saw a juvenile Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a Northern Waterthrush, an American Robin, and some Pine Siskin’s.
Thanks for reading,
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