Cliff Swallows

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sarahs Purple Martins Bluebird Trail"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Site Journal"><U><B>Site Journal</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id95.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Becoming A Martin Landlord"><U><B>Becoming A Martin Landlord</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id192.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Martin Colony"><U><B>My Martin Colony</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Purple Martin Pictures"><U><B>Purple Martin Pictures</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id96.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Purple MartinFest "><U><B>Purple MartinFest </B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id188.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Emergency Supplemental Feeding"><U><B>Emergency Supplemental Feeding</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id329.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Project Purple Martin"><U><B>Project Purple Martin</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id330.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Purple Martin Links"><U><B>Purple Martin Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Predator Control"><U><B>Predator Control</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bluebird Trail"><U><B>Bluebird Trail</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tree Swallows "><U><B>Tree Swallows </B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Cliff Swallows</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id86.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Creative Innovations"><U><B>Creative Innovations</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id187.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Growing Gourds"><U><B>Growing Gourds</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Downloads"><U><B>Downloads</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id307.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Monarch Butterfly"><U><B>Monarch Butterfly</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id279.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Purple Martin Articles"><U><B>Purple Martin Articles</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#9999FF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="575" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 117 ><NOBR><div> <B><IMG SRC="111b524b0.gif" border=0 width="82" height="75" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </B><FONT SIZE="7" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Pristina" ><B>Cliff Swallows</B></FONT><B> <IMG SRC="111d524b0.gif" border=0 width="82" height="75" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 94 ><NOBR><bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="11103a330.gif" border=0 width="570" height="51" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 872 WIDTH="575"><div> In 2005, several pairs of <A HREF="http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Cliff_Swallow_dtl.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBir"><U>Cliff Swallows</U></A> were observed trying to make nests under the eves of my house. At first I thought they were Barn Swallows, a close cousin to the Cliff Swallows. To my surprise and delight, this particular Swallow is much more rare to have nesting in my location. Typically, Cliff Swallows can be found nesting under bridges near large open bodies of water, such as lakes and rivers. For whatever reason, these Swallows are now moving into my area looking for nesting sites. </div> <bR> <div> After researching the species on the Internet I was able to find out quite a bit about their behavior and nesting preferences. Like the Purple Martin, these native birds migrate south and return to same location year after year to breed. They feed solely on flying insects and are colony nesters which means they prefer to nest side by side or in close proximity to each other.  Some Cliff Swallow nests have been known to contain some <A HREF="http://www.peabody.yale.edu/explore/swallows.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.peabody.yale.edu/explore/swal"><U>3,500 nests</U></A>! Obviously, this is not a reasonable goal to allow at my home. I was thinking more like one, two, maybe three. (big smile)</div> <bR> <div> Apparently, Cliff Swallows are attracted to sites with a water source, good food supply and buildings with a stucco finish to aid in the building of their nests. I, ironically, have all three of these preferences which would explain why they seem attracted to my house. Some people view these birds as <A HREF="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7482.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES"><U>pests </U></A>and try to detour them from nesting on their homes and buildings. Even though I am a bird lover, I am also a realist and certainly understand how this can be the case. Can you imagine potentially 100+ mud gourd shaped nests on the side of your house/ building? Not to mention the amount of bird droppings that would pile up directly under the nests?? It is easy to understand why methods  of exclusion were developed and distributed, such as this <A HREF="http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/wild/pdf/wildlife/SWALLOWS.PDF" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/wild/pdf/w"><U>PDF file</U></A>.</div> <bR> <div> So, trying to find a happy medium... I decided to let a few Cliff Swallow pairs build nests under a side door of my home that was not used that much. Using the exclusion technique I was able to control the Swallows nesting attempts and only allow two nests to be built, even though there was at least two more pairs also attempting to build their own nests in the same location. Seeing how my husband did not even want to two nesting that I was allowing, I had to take what I could get and discourage the others hoping they would find a suitable location elsewhere. Ultimately I had to put up mesh netting in several locations around my home where the birds were trying to build nests. In the end, I was successful and these two pairs went on the raise and fledge young.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>  </B></FONT></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1123f41d0.gif" border=0 width="500" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 533 ><NOBR><div> <B>IDENTIFICATION</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="408" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#000000" BORDERCOLORDARK="#CC6600" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 388 ><NOBR><div> <B><IMG SRC="111f907c0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="380" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1125f4080.gif" border=0 width="500" height="8" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 142 WIDTH="575"><bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="305" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#CC6600" BORDERCOLORDARK="#000000" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="71"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="71" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>