[Mnbird] Mnbird Digest, Vol 68, Issue 9

Tue Jul 28 11:37:11 CDT 2020

I recently rescued a nest of very young barn swallows from the underside of
a pontoon boat.
The owner didn't notice the frantic diving parents, upon our return to the
slip. I did, however, and looked under the boat when I saw them going
beneath and not returning right off
and sure enough, saw a bit of the nest. It must have either not had eggs
yet or had eggs but no chicks.
I returned to the boat a week later and carefully coaxed the nest and young
chicks off and into a box and took it to the wonderful rehab folks in
Roseville.
The owner of the boat was taking it back out  and they would not have
survived the pounding of the boat on waves nor the possible spray of said
waves over the nest.
I also wondered if they had been allowed to fledge, how they would manage
that first step... down into the water.
But in any case, the boat was being used actively and taken out for long
hours at a time, when the parents could not care for the young and when the
young would be pummeled and washed with water and possibly even bounced or
washed out.
They had a much larger chance of surviving at the rescue.
The parents unfortunately, didn't understand that when I took their nest
away from them.

So, yeah, they seem to find many surfaces with overhangs or ledges as
possible nesting sites.
Unfortunately, some are better than others.

- Pamela
Never give up on a dream just because of the length of time it will take to
accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. - Unknown

“There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.”
― Aldo Leopold
I am one who cannot.

On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 10:54 AM Steve Weston <sweston2g at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have found many Barn Swallow nests in home entries, although I see them
> more often in dock entries in industrial and commercial areas. I remember
> delivering a box to a home and as I walked to the front door to ring the
> bell, I noticed bird poop on the entry floor. Looking up, I found a full
> nest on the light fixture with about six young. When I glanced up, they
> abandoned the nest, but one bird got tangled in the nest and was left
> hanging and I had to extract it.
> I also find Cliff Swallows on the fronts of shopping developments,
> preferring those that have structures that are higher than a simple first
> floor overhang. Also, Rough-winged Swallows like to nest on the
> undercarriages of truck trailers that are in many industrial dock areas.
> Steve Weston
> On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN
> sweston2 at comcast.net
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 12:24 PM Pamela Freeman via Mnbird <
> mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:
>
>> Betsy,
>> Barn swallows can and do indeed at least attempt to build nests upon
>> houses.
>> We live in Oak Grove, not exactly suburban, but sort of rural.
>> We had a pair, inexperienced, we believe, who attempted to build their
>> nest on the tiny ledge above our front door.
>> The ledge was about an inch wide and not enough of a real ledge. The nest
>> was not stable and inevitably fell. They rebuilt. Twice. They finally gave
>> up after the third nest and its eggs fell and they eggs and probably their
>> hopes for that year were broken.
>> It was horribly sad.
>> We didn't use that door because of them, hoped they would be successful,
>> but the weight of the nest was more than the tiny ledge could hold.
>>
>> So, they sometimes do try!
>>
>> Pamela Freeman
>> northern Anoka county, Oak Grove
>> - Pamela
>> Never give up on a dream just because of the length of time it will take
>> to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. - Unknown
>>
>> “There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.”
>> ― Aldo Leopold
>> I am one who cannot.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 12:14 PM Betsy Kerr via Mnbird <
>> mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:
>>
>>> How lucky you are, Cindy, to have all that activity in your own yard!
>>> I'm happy to report that our Eastern Bluebirds here in Golden Valley (2
>>> blocks from N Minneapolis) finally fledged last Tuesday.  I didn't have a
>>> very precise idea of when they had hatched, so I had expected them to
>>> fledge a few days earlier.  Wanting to witness the event, I spent five days
>>> on Bluebird Watch in our garden!  But I enjoyed observing other activity
>>> such as the House Wrens nesting in a nearby box (I know that is supposed to
>>> be a threat to the Bluebirds, but apparently these boxes were close enough
>>> that the proximity helped to keep the peace--never any trouble from the
>>> wrens), a visit from the Great Crested Flycatcher that has apparently
>>> nested in the vicinity, and the resident RTH visiting the bean blossoms.
>>> In the end, the actual fledging was of course anticlimactic.  Two came out
>>> while I had to be away, and the one I saw just dropped to the ground.  It
>>> took about 6 hours for all four to come out, and number 4 only came out
>>> with some help.  Yes, we opened the box.  I suppose that's a no-no, but it
>>> was past 7p.m. and the youngster showed no signs of an imminent departure.
>>> It promptly flew to the nearest tree, and after a bit of dive-bombing us by
>>> the adults, all seemed to be well.
>>>
>>> Another interesting note:  There has been a pair of Barn Swallows
>>> regularly hanging out around the next yard over.  This has been going on
>>> long enough that I'm convinced they must have nested somewhere close, but I
>>> don't see anything unusual on the eaves of the neighbors' house, and I
>>> can't imagine where else they might have established a nest.  Does anyone
>>> know of Barn Swallows building their nests on residential structures in the
>>> suburbs? Or can they nest in trees?
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Betsy Kerr
>>> Golden Valley, MN
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 11:00 AM <mnbird-request at lists.mnbird.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
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>>>> Today's Topics:
>>>>
>>>>    1. Young'uns (Brian and Cindy Drill)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Message: 1
>>>> Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2020 13:19:33 -0500
>>>> From: Brian and Cindy Drill <bcdrill at charter.net>
>>>> To: mnbird <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net>
>>>> Subject: [Mnbird] Young'uns
>>>> Message-ID: <1f07de3b-aa02-84c0-1563-539afc5e8457 at charter.net>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
>>>>
>>>> Happy Sunday to all.? I don't know why I rarely associate the end of
>>>> July with young birds, but there have been so many in the past couple
>>>> of
>>>> weeks.
>>>>
>>>> Yesterday our second nest of robins fledged from the honeysuckle
>>>> trellis.? We almost missed the start of this brood, since it came about
>>>> with far less fanfare than the original construction efforts of the
>>>> first.? The first nest produced 4, and the second 3 youngsters.? The
>>>> last to leave spent half the day perched on the carport eaves, ignoring
>>>> his parents pleas to move on--somewhere, anywhere.
>>>>
>>>> Early last week, we were suddenly inundated with chipping sparrows and
>>>> their ungainly foster children (suspiciously resembling cowbirds)
>>>> around
>>>> the back feeder in particular.? Much to my delight, after having seen
>>>> only 2 orioles this year during early migration, 3 young ones suddenly
>>>> began spending time in our back yard.? I quickly replaced my oriole
>>>> feeders, but the new guys didn't seem to care--they were all about the
>>>> birdbath.? Our little male hummingbird was pretty tickled with the
>>>> orange nectar feeder, however, and stopped using the other hummingbird
>>>> feeders for a while.? I haven't seen the orioles this week at all.
>>>>
>>>> Now there are numerous house finch families to fill the void, along
>>>> with
>>>> young chickadees.? A trio of fuzzy downy woodpeckers played King of the
>>>> Hill with the front bird feeder.? A pair of cardinals with two
>>>> offspring
>>>> arrived in the front yard; to all appearances the adults were
>>>> vigorously
>>>> convincing the young that they were ready for an empty nest.
>>>> Goldfinches
>>>> seem to not be interested in thistle this summer, but are emptying the
>>>> sunflower feeder as fast as I can fill it.
>>>>
>>>> A small group of waxwings arrived while I was in the yard this past
>>>> week.? They grouped in the maple tree, and one flew into the magnolia
>>>> over the pond and whistled to the others.? When no one came to join it,
>>>> it flew back to the maple and tried to regroup them, and then back over
>>>> the pond.? After more whistling back and forth, the one gave up and the
>>>> entire group moved on.? Proof, I guess, that you can lead a flock to
>>>> water, but you can't make them drink.
>>>>
>>>> Finally, our first RB grosbeak of the year--a young male has begun to
>>>> visit us.? My husband is disappointed to only see him in his juvenile
>>>> plumage, but I hope he remembers where he visited and maybe comes back
>>>> next year all grown up.
>>>>
>>>> Oh, and my daughter and I were thrilled to see indigo buntings last
>>>> week
>>>> on a walk in a local park--2 males, sitting on the trail and singing
>>>> their little hearts out.? Happy birding to all, Cindy in North Mankato
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
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>>>> End of Mnbird Digest, Vol 68, Issue 9
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>>>>
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