Tree Swallows on the Bluebird Trail (Part 8)

Also see Dead Tree Swallows in Nestbox and Violet Green Swallows

From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 7:55 AM
Subject: Re: Pairing Boxes

Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
When we were in Maryland a few years ago one of the bluebirders placed loose clusters of nestboxes in each area they wanted bluebirds. They would have one pair of bluebirds and about five pairs of Tree Swallows. When the bluebirds built a nest early they would pair a box or two close by it and then scatter four or five more boxes on an acre or so. They got their one pair of bluebirds but also benefited from the insect control while the Tree Swallows were nesting.

Dick Tuttle in Ohio and Don Wilkins in Minnesota would install Tree Swallow nestboxes in good habitat for them in a grid to maximize the numbers of Tree Swallows nesting in a small area. They each came up with about the perfect spacing for their areas so that the Tree Swallows would use every nestbox without fighting with each other constantly. Don felt that having 30>40 pairs of Tree Swallows in open meadows near good water and insect supplies for the Swallows opened up bluebird habitat to where he did not need to pair nestboxes on his bluebird trail. Don Wilkins was raising more bluebirds than any other trail monitor in Minnesota back in the 80's and 90's.

Tree Swallows were a novelty to Sandy and I at this time and I did not pay attention to actual measurements between nestboxes. I seem to recall he placed 30>50 nestboxes on 15 to 20 acre meadows that were not going to be mowed. The boxes were mounted well above the tallest weeds and grasses on metal pipe. KK

A TRES a male i believe claimed my backyard box and i watched him all morning take in nesting material. He does not appear to even have a mate yet. I was outside for a few hours and the whole time he just kept building.
Why is the male building the nest? On a few other notes this morning, i have
4 three day old EABL and another box with 4 TRES eggs.

....

Tyler,19, West central OH

From: denisefarmer"at"comcast.net [mailto:denisefarmer"at"comcast.net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 11:16 PM
Subject: Nests/babies/box question

Hi All,

I have two new nests started by TRES but no eggs. I am surprised since most other folks in this area have TRES eggs in their nests already. Why would mine not have eggs yet? The one box the mom or dad was in the box when I arrived and I waited until it flew out on its own without me having to do anything to encourage her/him to leave. I truly expected eggs but none. Same with the other box, but did not see a parent near it.

I have another box completely full with twig/stick nest and I am assuming House Wren there. Does anything else build a complete stick nest to the top of the box? No eggs

My bluebird eggs hatched. there were four eggs and I don't see another egg in the nest but it looked like only 3 babies but hard to tell. The have long fuzz and I am estimating a hatch date of 5/6 or 5/7. Dad was in the nest as I walked down the trail and flew out on his own as well, so I was able to check that out.

The nest box that had the dead TRES was being completely checked out last week by numerous Swallows and I expected that to have a TRES nest and yet the box was empty? Any idea why? Last week I did clean it out with some water with bleach in it but I didn't soak the box and it was a warm day so it should have dried out well. Could the bleach have scared the birds off that box?

Thanks

Denise
Parkville, MD

Hi Denise,

None of my TRES have eggs yet either, so don't worry. Since TRES generally only have one brood, they can afford to take their time, I suppose.

This week, my TRES are busy lining their nests with feathers from a dead turkey vulture. Gross! These feathers are huge--the ground around the boxes is littered with feathers that didn't quite fit.

I don't think that the bleached box would be discouraging the swallows.
Bleach solution outdoors will break down and dissipate after 24 hrs (max).

Everyone here ignored one of my PVC boxes for weeks and weeks--for no apparent reason. The TRES wanted an identical box (150' away) occupied by EABL. Finally they took the empty box and things calmed down.

I have not had wrens nesting in my boxes, but one year they did build a nest in the glove sleeve of my workshop sandblasting cabinet! I don't know if there are other common twig-using cavity nesters in Maryland.

Felicia, Sykesville, MD

From: Brucemac1"at"aol.com [mailto:Brucemac1"at"aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: Nests/babies/box question

In a message dated 5/11/2006 10:48:18 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, yumyumkatts"at"voyager.net writes:

Good Morning All......

I'm up here near the North Shore of Lake Erie, south of Detroit, in Ontario. (Only place in Canada where one must travel to the north to get into the USA)

The Tree Swallows have been around here for at least a month. Many nests were built earlier in April. Just during the past week egg laying has begun.

Here in my yard (1 acre) I have 6 nestboxes. No bluebirds, but 4 of the boxes have TRES nests with eggs. A 5th box is being 'held' by a single TRES, no nest started as yet.

On one of my trails, I'm anticipating the fledging of all the babies in my 6 egg box. That should happen in the next day or two.

I was visiting a friend in Cheslea, Mich. yesterday. He has a pair of BB in his small backyard. They have 5 eggs. He's been feeding them mealworms. I was amazed to watch the BB's, especially the male, come to the kitchen window-sill and peer inside, when the mealworm feeder is empty..!!!???

When Gregg goes out with a fresh supply of worms, they follow him to the spot where he places the worms. There's no 'hand-feeding', but they're very close to him, 5 or 6 feet, waiting for their goodies.

Bruce Macdonald, SW Ontario

On Wed 10 May 2006 at 23:15, "Denise"
<denisefarmer"at"comcast.net> wrote, in part:
> I have two new nests started by TRES but no eggs.
> I am surprised since most other folks in this area have TRES eggs in
> their nests already. Why would mine not have eggs yet? ...

Hi, Denise and everyone,

Sounds like your TRES pairs just aren't ready yet.

Right now, I have five TRES nests in my yard. One contains 5 eggs, one has one egg, 2 others are feathered but no eggs yet and the last one is just being feathered. Three of the nests are in wooden Bluebird boxes, one is in a plastic Purple Martin gourd on a shepard's hook and one nest is in a dedicated nestbox trap right in the middle of my cluster of five Purple Martin poles {grumble}. The PUMA and TRES are getting along well, maybe due to vertical separation.

I wish the TRES hadn't taken the trap box. I let the HOSP population increase while recovering from Lyme, including some in the PUMA housing. I tore out the HOSP nests but haven't gotten a good shot at the pests yet so they rebuild quickly.

My group of TRES are very protective of their boxes. TRES pairs in clustered cavities still squabble with the EABB but also discourage HOSP.
Everybody gangs up on the occasional hawk that ventures in, including King birds along with all of the swallows.

Feathers for the TRES nest come from a flock of white domesticated geese that my neighbor keeps on his dairy farm that's a quarter mile up the road. Watching a tiny TRES flying with feathers longer that the swallow's body is entertaining.
They drop the feather fairly often, circle around and snatch it again before it hits the ground.
That happens so often that I really think that the birds are playing.

> ... The one box the mom or dad was in the box when I arrived and I
> waited until it flew out on its own without me having to do anything
> to encourage her/him to leave. I truly expected eggs but none. Same
> with the other box, but did not see a parent near it.

I'm not sure how typical my TRES are, but I can tell the status of the nest just by watching the activity of the pair. Watch closely and you can sex them. "Sex Differences - Adults similar in appearance; yearling female and juveniles brown."
I think this 'All About Birds' description means 'second year (SY)' when it says 'yearling.' I'm used to HY = hatch year, SY = second year, ASY = after second year with full adult plumage. Look very closely and you'll see that ASY females are a bit duller than the males, less iridescence to the blue-green/black sheen of their wing feathers.
Anyway, I observe distinct phases or steps:

1 - MALE CLAIMS CAVITY(IES) AND TERRITORY.
The male TRES claims a cavity, establishes a wide territory of up to 100' around it and attempts to attract a female while driving all other male TRES away. The male spends lots of time sitting atop his chosen cavity, calling to attract female attention.
When a female is within sight, he'll put on quite an aerobatic display to impress the lady. He also tries to defend all cavities of paired/clustered birdhouses, driving away EABB and HOSP as well as other TRES.

2 - COURTSHIP.
Pair bonding begins when the male manages to get a female interested in his cavity(ies). For a period of a few days to a few weeks, they're always together as a pair. They fly in paired formation, usually with the male slightly behind his mate to watch his woman and to defend her from attention by other males. First copulations occur in this phase with the female perched, the male hovering behind her and thrusting. No mistaking what's going on. Both birds will go in and out but won't start building a nest right away.

3. NEST BUILDING.
Nest building begins, the pair-bond solidifies and copulation continues. Both birds now defend the nest site chosen by the female. An EABB has a chance to take the other box(es) in a pair/cluster because one of the TRES pair will sit above their chosen cavity to defend it while the other TRES brings in nest material. The size of the defended territory is now less than half of what the male originally defended and they're more tolerant of other species, though other TRES are driven away.
The female may occasionally but rarely switch cavities somewhere in this stage, choosing another cavity within the pair's territory. Sometimes it appears that she just wants to keep the EABB or HOSP out of the adjacent house(s).

4 - FEATHERING THE NEST.
Feathering the nest completes the nest-building process. Watch carefully, especially if you have a pair with an SY female so seeing the sex is easy.
The male TRES may bring in feathers but it's always the female that carefully places them in the nest.
First are small downy ones to line the nest cup followed by larger feathers that curl over the cup. A clueless male TRES usually keeps bringing in small feathers until scolded by the female as she spits the small ones he offers on the ground below the nest cavity and goes to fetch the first long ones. The male gets the idea and the pair will form a relay to bring in long feathers until the female is satisfied. Once a nest is feathered, a TRES pair is bound to that nest. Both defend it from other birds but tolerate other species in a paired/clustered box only 15' or so away. I've never seen a TRES pair abandon a feathered nest.

5 - EGG LAYING.
When egg laying begins, behavior changes. One of the pair is almost always present to guard the nest while the other feeds. The size of the territory defended by the pair shrinks so that another TRES pair, usually SY birds, can nest in a box as little as 25' away. The first-arriving male will dive at the new TRES male occasionally when the new guy sings from a nearby box but quickly returns to defend his own nest and eggs.

6 - BROODING.
When the female begins brooding, you need to get up early to see some of the behavior changes. The female TRES stays on the nest overnight or whenever temperatures drop, especially when it rains. Early in the morning, the male TRES will cling to the front of the box, courtling to his mate. She some- times seems to send him off for breakfast and he'll return with a tasty bug for her in a very Bluebird-like manner. As the day warms up, the female will leave the nest to forage for herself.
The feather insulation and daytime warmth keep the eggs developing. One of the pair is always nearby and most TRES will furiously defend their eggs.
The male spends a lot of time atop the box while his mate is inside.

While mowing on Tuesday, a male TRES watched the lawn tractor approach. When he realized that it was coming right at his nest, he leaned forward and spread his wings to look bigger and more vicious.
When the noisy metal monster got too close, he launched himself at the monster's eyes (headlights) to drive it away. He missed a collision by only a few millimeters. Once I passed, he immediately checked on his mate, telling her about his latest encounter. Braggart!

For me, it's fairly common for momma TRES to stay on her nest when I do nest checks. Sometimes I get a peck as I gently lift her to count eggs.
Most of the time, she'll leave and squabble at me until I leave. Then she fusses around to get her feathers back into exactly the right position.
TRES are pretty fearless, driven by instinct to reproduce.

7 - HATCHING.
When the eggs hatch, momma TRES has to stay on her nest when temperatures drop. Poppa will feed her early in the morning. The pair are even more protective of their nest. One of them is usually perched above the nest but may venture out a bit to eat while the other bird forages out farther.
They feed the hatchlings regularly but the babies spend a lot of time sleeping for the first two days.

8 - FEEDING NESTLINGS.
By the third or fourth day, the babies have to be fed almost constantly during the day. Both parents work a relay to bring in enough food quickly enough for their growing babies. They seem to try to stay withing sight of their nest but getting food is the top priority is gathering food. I've watched my TRES parents fly as far away as the dairy farm a quarter mile up the road when feeding babies. As the day of fledging nears, the babies will stick their heads out the cavity entry hole to beg for food.

9 - FLEDGING.
My TRES tend to fledge fairly early in the morning and I've missed more fledges than I've seen. TRES parents don't seem to call the their offspring like EABB parents. The parents just stop feeding and the babies leave. When it's time, it's time.
One by one, the young swallows climb to the entry hole and dive out, immediately spreading their wings into graceful flight. Watch, though. It seems that flying comes naturally but landing takes a bit of practice. Not much, though.

Once they leave the nest, I've never seen a TRES go back inside. The parents and babies may and often do go to the box or gourd and peer inside.

I don't know if '10' is really a stage. The TRES family tends to gather on a wire immediately after the babies fledge. TRES parents may feed their babies for a few hours but most of their time seems to be spent in flight, teaching the new fledglings to catch bugs in midair. If you watch them, you may see an adult catch a bug and pass it to a following fledgling. I've also seen parents stuff a bug down a fledgling's throat while the youngster sits on a wire on fledging day. But TRES fledglings seem to learn to hunt faster than any of the other swallows I've observed.

Within a day or two, they're gone for the season, off to a pre-migratory roost. I miss them. My favorite time of year is when all the birds are around at the same time: Wrens and native Sparrows scratching for grubs and bugs in the garden, the Bluebirds pouncing on bugs from tomato cages or bean poles, Barn Swallows patrolling the surface for low-flying bugs, Tree Swallows at head height and Purple Martins high overhead.

> The nest box that had the dead TRES was being completely checked out
> last week by numerous Swallows and I expected that to have a TRES nest
> and yet the box was empty? Any idea why? Last week I did clean it out
> with some water with bleach in it but I didn't soak the box and it was
> a warm day so it should have dried out well.
> Could the bleach have scared the birds off that box?

I don't think that the chlorine is the problem.
All traces of it should be gone in hours or, at most, a day.

Try moving the box. Even a few feet may make a difference. It's possible that the TRES you're seeing now peered in and saw the dead bird, perhaps spooking them away from the spot. I know that Purple Martins will avoid a cavity where a bird died.

I move my birdhouses fairly often to get them away from any smell from dropping the might attract predators. For me, it's easy to slip the conduit off the rebar and slip it over another length of rebar a short distance away. I often have to soak the soil around rebar that's been in the ground for a while before I can get it out (I use a fence tensioner and wood scrap for leverage). I've seen a nestbox that was unoccupied for no apparent reason suddenly become something to fight over when I moved it only 8 to 10' away.

I suspect you'll have TRES eggs any day now. Be sure to look carefully. They like to hide them under feathers.

Take care,

R J 'Tree' Greenwood
Catlett VA

Hi Tree:

Thank you for the great description of your TRES observations. This is my first year having TRES on my WODU trail. I quickly made some BB boxes last year when I saw the TRES entering the WODU boxes. No takers last year but I'm thrilled that so far I have 4 nest starts.

I joined another monitor on his trail on some federal land and observed several boxes with the TRES sitting to the side of the eggs. It was a fairly chilly morning, so I was surprised to observe that. Could that have been the male "sitting " on the eggs while the female was feeding? The monitor I was with doesn't believe in disturbing them when they are on the nest so we couldn't see if the bird had a brood patch.

Any ideas?

Vicki Butler
Sacramento, CA

I noticed it was awfully quiet yesterday afternoon and I didn't see the tree swallows. They have been back for several weeks now, and always take the box to the right of our property. I walked close to the box and expected a fast and furious little glider would be along very soon and none came.
Today, still no tree swallows chattering away on the nest box. I usually don't open the tree swallow box much because they do dive-bomb you, but I went out just a few minutes ago, fearing the worst. I haven't heard or seen any English house sparrows yet but you never know about those sneaky things.
So I opened the nest box and there is a nice little nest lined with goose
feathers. No eggs, no birds inside. There's a stovepipe baffle guard on
the pole. The nest does not look disturbed at all. Where are my tree swallows? The bluebirds are still happily flitting in and out of their box.

Autumn in Kentucky

From: Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper"at"bayou.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 6:57 AM
Subject: Re: Yeah babies doing well/ and Tre Sw eggs finally

Denise, I don't know so much that they have rejected the box. I put up a brand new box in my backyard about a week ago and they were on it like a June Bug and she built a nest in one day in it. I figured she would start laying the next day, but so far nothing. We have had some very chilly weather and I really think maybe that has something to do with it, who knows. At any rate, I am glad as today, we will get the nestbox cam installed and will get to see all the goings on. Just hang in there and most likely your bluebird lady will come back there. I have never seen such a draggy nesting season! I've had some just start the first nesting cycle as some were fledging it.

Evelyn

Hi
Speaking of spouses who are not as 'affected' as we are by the birds.......
my spouse and I just got back from checking the trail.

Saw a dead, immature swallow in a box. I am guessing it was a female (males less likely to have 1st year immature plumage, as I recall). The dead bird was positioned like it was looking up. It did not have any apparent damage/injury.

The swallow pair was still circling the box, which had 2 eggs.

I have read that first year swallow females often approach a mating pair, as a 'lady in waiting' type role in case something happens to the female.

I have not seen the 1st year females 'allowed' in the box, though.

Any one had a similar experience?

I know swallows can sometimes die on the nest, from exhaustion from migration. However, it seems to be somewhat late for that. Weather fine, although hot.

Boxes have a plastic mesh ladder and are 6"round diameter.

Saw 3 of 4 fledglings that fledged about 2 weeks ago. I love their 'GPS'
song they used to call their parents...
Amy Marr
it's hot and sticky in Greenfield , IN

From: Gretchen Cornnell [mailto:gcornnell"at"diocesecpa.org]
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 12:56 PM
Subject: TRES Incubating Wren Eggs

My friend has a situation where the TRES and Wrens were fighting over one of her nest boxes. She has 2 boxes paired but of course both wanted the one box and it looked like the TRES won because the nest was a swallow nest. However, over the weekend she peeked into the box and found brown sort-of marbled eggs in the swallow nest (Wren eggs?) and this morning she checked the box to find a momma TRES incubating the eggs. Has this ever happened to anyone before? She doesn't want Wrens and wants to dump the nest and eggs to give the TRES another chance. What should she do?

Gretchen - South Central PA

Hi Gretchen,

How big are the "brown sort of marbled eggs", larger than the TRES eggs? Any kind of Wren eggs will be smaller than TRES eggs. They might be cowbird eggs if they're larger. Wrens are songbirds also (as are cowbirds), and she can't legally dump an established, active nest. Are those the only eggs in the nest? Please keep us posted.
Thanks,
Rob Barron

Whether she has wants Wrens or not she may have them and it is illegal to remove and destroy. We don't always get the choice of eggs we want but when they are native, they should be left alone. Let it be would be my advice

Denise
Parkville, MD

I've witnessed my pair of TRES mating for the 3rd time again today even though the female is already incubating 6 eggs, and has been for a bout 5 days. What effect will this have? Will she produce more eggs? Or is this just normal behavior?

Tyler, West central OH

I can't speak for "song birds" like TRES, EABL, etc... but I have worked monitoring our urban nesting Peregrine Falcons the past 2-3 years and from everything I have read and personally observed with their behavior, copulation is not only for reproduction but also an act of pair bonding.

I would be interested in other comments on this subject because I have also seen copulation/possible pair bonding with TRES and EABL after a clutch has been laid.

kimmarie :)
Buffalo/Varysburg, Western NY

From: Cher [mailto:bluelist"at"localnet.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 7:11 PM
Subject: Re: TRES mating after already incubating?

I've witnessed the exact same thing, and wondered what was going on. At first I thought maybe there was something wrong with the eggs, but they hatched just fine yesterday. Now that the eggs have hatched, and the parents are busy feeding the chicks, they don't seem to have much time for that kind of thing . . .

From: Dottie, Hickory Hollow, Brown County, Indiana [mailto:yumyumkatts"at"voyager.net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 9:14 PM
Subject: TRES mating after already incubating?

Same here. My mom TRES has laid about three eggs and this afternoon I
saw mom and pop really going at it on my Martin rig. Now she's back in
the
TRES gourd.

I was so glad she started laying as I had to take my Martin rig down and
plug it up to force her into the TRES gourd. This afternoon I was able
to
unplug it and put it back up and I'm almost positive I saw a Martin scout.
Sure hope so.

Dottie, Hickory Hollow
Brown County, Indiana

According to Ehrlich, Dobkin and Wheye's book, "The Birders Handbook", birds that live in colonies and birds that have to leave their mates alone for a long time while foraging for food (like raptors) tend to copulate very frequently. The theory is that the extra sperm "crowds out" or dilutes the sperm of any rival male that may have mated with the female while the male wasn't looking. Since some birds can store sperm for weeks, and potentially use it to fertilize a second clutch, the male is probably trying to assure that the next clutch is also his. Then again, maybe they just enjoy making love:-)

Linda Ruth
Coventry, CT

From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 8:42 AM
Subject: Re: TRES Incubating Wren Eggs & Cliff Swallow eggs

Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
One thing people are missing here is that a Tree Swallow is incubating House Wren eggs. These two species raise their young on totally different food sources. Baby wrens will need to be fed by their adopted parents for a couple of weeks after they fledge. Swallows will expect healthy babies to fly up and away where they will feed them on the wing. Baby wrens will expect their adopted parents to come to them as they hop through the bushes. I probably would watch this play out but I would expect the baby wrens to die in the nest before fledging and even if they survive to leave the nestbox they will be allowed to starve to death as I doubt any other wrens will feed them.

I stopped and watched a Cliff Swallow colony under a bridge overpass yesterday and wondered why Cliff Swallows lay white eggs covered with brown speckles. They look an awful lot like House Sparrow eggs. They build beautiful nests and look very similar to the Cliff Dwelling Indians homes I saw as a child in Arizona in 1962. I counted 1/6 of the span of complete nests under this bridge and there are over 1,000 globe shaped nests glued to smooth concrete. This is as close as we have to the bat caves of central Texas for sheer numbers of creatures flying around. Bird droppings under these lines of nests completely cover the concrete for about 5 feet wide by several hundred feet long.

I was surprised to find hundreds of Barn Owl pellets underneath this bridge where the owls roost it seems on supports. I found great places to hang a couple of Barn Owl Boxes! I checked a lot of the pellets and they only seemed to contain rodents and I got a neat shot of a gopher skull in one of them. I got all the way home and realized I should have gathered up some of these pellets for giving away to schools....KK

From: Bet Zimmerman [mailto:ezdz"at"charter.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 5:02 PM
Subject: TRES incubating wren eggs.

Gretchen wrote: My friend has a situation where the TRES and Wrens were fighting over one of her nest boxes. She has 2 boxes paired but of course both wanted the one box and it looked like the TRES won because the nest was a swallow nest. However, over the weekend she peeked into the box and found brown sort-of marbled eggs in the swallow nest (Wren eggs?) and this morning she checked the box to find a momma TRES incubating the eggs.

I would not describe wren eggs as brown. They are tiny, very glossy, and maroonish with teeny tiny spots that are very close to each other. See photo here: http://www.sialis.org/images/nesteggsphotoalbum/Nests/pages/26wreneggs_jpg_jpg.htm

Are you sure they are not HOSP eggs? http://www.sialis.org/hospphotos.htm (photos). If they are HOSP eggs they can be removed.

Usually there is only one cowbird egg in a nest – occasionally reports of more than one but probably from two females. However, cowbird eggs are not commonly found in nestboxes with a 1.5” hole.

Bet from CT

From: Gretchen Cornnell [mailto:gcornnell"at"diocesecpa.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 10:06 AM
Subject: TRES Incubating HOWR Eggs

Regarding the email I posted yesterday with a possible situation of TRES incubating HOWR eggs - my friend (first year birder) went home and took a digital photo of the eggs and showed me the photo this morning. The eggs are TRES (4 of them) with some excrement spotted on them. Her only excuse is perhaps it was the excrement and shadows that made them look tannish, marbled and spotted :-) Thanks for all the suggestions and support I received regarding the situation. I am always in awe of the knowledge and wonderful support of the members on this list. So, all is well at the farm in Middletown, PA. and hopefully she will have 4 beautiful TRES fledge. Thank you!
Gretchen - Central PA

From: Pamela Ford [mailto:jpford"at"comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 10:26 PM
Subject: RE: Babies, babies, babies!

Carolyn,

Congratulations on your very productive yard! In my experience, here in Maryland, the Bluebirds will have 3 nestings as long as there was no delay in the first two (i.e. an aborted attempt or HOSP harassment that caused extended nest building stage). It is also common for the female to switch between nestboxes for each nesting.

Tree Swallows only have one brood. They have so far to fly for their migration (South America), there isn’t time or energy for more. However, I still clean out the nestbox after the TRES fledge so that it could be used by other cavity nesters. A word of warning, though. I have always found Tree Swallow nests to be very mite-infested, and those mites can move fast. They can be up your arm in no time the minute you reach for the old nest! No harm done, just a creepy feeling to see and feel the waves of mites moving up your arm!

Good luck
Pam in Harford County, Maryland

Carolyn wroe: Also, do tree swallows have more than one clutch a year? I cleaned out the first bluebird nest from the house shortly after those babies fledged. Should I do the same with the tree swallow nest? Will they fledge in about the same time as the bluebirds did?

Carolyn, Tree Swallows (TRES) generally only have one brood per year, although they may renest if the first attempt fails. On occasion, second broods are reported, but are sometimes unsuccessful partly because the TRES migrate away together. If you do get a second brood, please let us know. I usually clean out the box right away after TRES nesting since their nests are usually a tarry mess- they stop taking out fecal sacs around day 14. TRES fledge later than bluebirds, probably because the birds need to be able to aerially hunt on their own almost immediately. 18-22 days (15-25 days possible) is the range.

See http://www.sialis.org/tres.htm for much more info on TRES

Bet from CT

Carolyn,
In my experience, where I am, Tree Swallows nest only once per
summer. Perhaps they may nest more often in warmer climes, but I have never
heard of it.
After my Tree Swallow chicks fledge, the Bluebirds have the
whole spread to themselves.

Bruce Burdett SW NH

Two years ago I had two of what appeared to be second broods in same box, but of course one can't be sure without banding, but I believe there have been some confirmed ones by banders. Usually they think it's associated with a failed nesting but in my cases it didn't appear to be

Bet from CT

Tonight I came home and I have two TRES flying around and going in my second box. Yeah my decoy box I use for trapping HOSP. This box is about 50 feet away from my blue bird box. I think they are probably just checking things out but last night the blue's were fighting with them, tonight I don't see my blue's at all. I hope the TRES have not scared the blue's away. I was thinking of moving the box closer but now that they are thinking of moving in I think I should leave it alone. So I am waiting patiently for my blue's to come around and wondering do you all think I should move my second box closer or just leave things alone right now. Also should I put up a Sparrow Spooker on the second box now that the TRES maybe moving in?

Steve Murphy
Rochester, mn

Evelyn,

Bird behavior fascinates me as well. I often wish I could get inside their heads and understand what they are thinking. It would be great to have a bird brain for a day. Now, some friends claim that I have always been bird brained, but I digress...

I have had some interesting interactions with TRES and EABL on my trails this spring. At one paired location, an EABL pair is on their second brood.
At every single nest check, I have had a pair of very defensive TRES letting me know I am not welcome there. They are always perched on one of the paired boxes, but have not started a clutch in either. They merely hang out there to defend the EABL nest it appears. I expect this behavior in paired sites where TRES are actively nesting, but that is not the case here.

On a friend's trail, I observed another fascinating thing. I approached a box pair to see a TRES apparently incubating eggs with its face poked out of the hole. I opened box to discover EABL nest and EABL eggs! The adjacent box held the TRES nest with eggs destroyed by HOSP. That was sad and I wondered what the TRES was "thinking". Without a true bird brain, I will never know... Concerned for the EABL nest, I returned at the end of my monitoring to find the female EABL on her nest as should be. I wonder what interaction occurred if the EABL found the TRES on her eggs :)

Paula Z
Powell (Central) Ohio

If you haven't visited the Bluebird Nut video clip pages in a while, it's worth the trip. I've uploaded a bunch of new vids, three of them just today. The newest ones are at the bottom of the page.

The Tree Swallow gang finally flew the coop, and I caught some of it on tape. There are some really funny moments in the long version (it's a smaller size view because it would have been far too big a download at normal quality). I've added a couple of higher-quality scenes extracted from the long version. "Ptooey!" is well worth the download, as is the Final Launching Sequence.

I couldn't believe it - yesterday I was about ready to call the men in white coats to come and get me because the six TRES in the Gilbertson box had been fledging for TWO DAYS - longer than it took me to give birth to my firstborn! All day I spent watching, thinking it was only one left in the box - I was certain that as soon as I got out the camcorder he'd fly before I'd even gotten it set up. As the day dragged on, I discovered it was TWO still in the box, and I figured so what? If I get out the camera and they fledge before I've got a chance to set it up, at least they'll get out of the box already! So I set up the camcorder and recorded for an hour. Went out, and I'd run out of tape.
Swapped tapes and got running again, and I hadn't even walked away from the camera - I was standing within 10 feet of the nestbox - when the last little guy launched himself right out, almost into my face! What cheek!

And his brother, the little stinker, had already gone -- AFTER I ran out of tape!

Cleaning out the nestbox after they left, it was easy to see why these guys were so filthy dirty-looking! I hope one of the first things on the agenda was a bath!

http://www.bluebirdnut.com/videos.htm

Cher
www.BluebirdNut.com

From: bridget mcgann [mailto:lilbmcg"at"gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 2:34 AM
Subject: My summer thus far (mostly TRES)

Finallly I have some time to sit down and share with you all about my first birding season. I live in Granger, IN which is just N/E of South Bend, very near the MI border. I live on one of those man-made subdivision lakes. I started out eager to get me some bluebirds and ended up with a pair of TRES. Some of you might remember me posting here regarding an incident where a bluebird flew in out of NOWHERE and challenged the tres for the box and was chased away -- All of this happened in a flash of just a few seconds and I happened to have my camera and got some (for me, anyway) amazing shots, which some of you used to help me confirm that it had indeed been an EABL.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkertart/sets/72057594119387558/

SO lucky. If I hadn't had the camera, I'd have never known it was a EABL, because it all happened so fast! Maybe about 10 seconds, he'd come and gone. It was particularly exciting because it was the first time I had ever seen a bluebird in real life before. While it was happening, all I could see was a blue blur but it was so blue I knew it HAD to be a bluebird, and I was so lucky to have the photos to confirm it. These birds are so gorgeous!

It raised my spirits about getting bluebirds, but the HOSP spooker has since fallen off the 2nd house and I've been too busy to fix it. I hope to work on that tomorrow, though. I was thinking it was too late for BB's but you guys are still talking about seeing them checking out your boxes so I guess there is still time! I'm psyched. (But at the same time I am trying not to get my hopes up TOO much...)

Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. TRES ended up laying five eggs, and I think they hatched somewhere around the 7th or 8th. All five hatched and all five seem to be doing well! I feel so lucky for a first-timer! I have been documenting it here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkertart/sets/72157594147072714/

Pretty much all of the individual photo pages have accompanying comments and observations.

I check the nest every evening, and at first I was really freaked out by the way the tres circle around above you and swoop down now and again. But in my internet research I'd read that no one's ever actually been HIT by a tres except by accident, which comforted me. And after I did it a few times they seemed to chill out.

...Today, though, it was warm out and I felt chipper so I went out in the morning, around 9am, with the intent of making a point to check under the nest for blowfly larvae (which I hadn't done yet). But I suppose I didn't have my wits about me and approached the box too fast because the moment I had the front of the house off, I felt and heard a tres DIVE BOMB me with an angry "tut-tut!" It scared the living daylights out of me and I RAN for my life, dropping F-bombs while they were doing dive bombs, chasing me all the way back up to my house! I got the neighbor kid next door, (who happened to have a golf club in his hand, lol) to be my "look out" while I put the door back on. Being about 6'7" tall (compared to my 5'2" frame), all he had to do was stand there and they seemed to back off. Or at least in my head I felt safe enough to screw the door back on and get out of there lol.

In the evening I tried again, and they were still aggressive but luckily they were away when I approached and didn't notice me until I'd finished and was already walking away -- and then of course they dive-bombed me again, and this time I got some of it on video. Of course it's not great because it's so hard to follow birds like that with a camera and keep them in the frame, but I managed to catch some scary bits -- one of a very close swoop and then another where you can hear (but not see) one squawk as it dive-bombed me again, and you can see the camera shake from my startled reaction as I'm trying to make my way back up to the house. I haven't uploaded it to my computer yet but when I do I'll try to edit it and share it if it seems worth sharing.

So I am wondering, is this normal? Is it okay for me to keep monitoring or should I leave them alone? Any advice (or reassurance that I won't die) would be appreciated.

Also, as a side note, here's a link to my general backyard brag book:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinkertart/sets/72057594105111844/

Well, thanks for letting me share. I'm off to bed...with a little trepidation about what sort of nightmares I might have after the freaky day I've had!

Bridget McGann
Granger, IN

From: Steve and Cindy Groene [mailto:hausgroene"at"comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 3:52 PM
Subject: TRES- four adults around nest box?

I am seeing something interesting (at least to this newbie). I have a paired box w/ EABL that are day 18 from hatch. The TRES are day 11 or 12 from hatch. For the past few days, there have been 4 adult TRES at the nestbox. Two of them don’t seem to be allowed in but they land on the nestbox when I have just seen one adult go in and one is hanging at the entrance hole. They are flying around w/ the pair and sit in the tree w/ the pair also. Is it possible they are hanging around to claim the box after this bunch hatch?

Cindy

Hi Cindy,

Everything I've read and all my personal records show a 12-14 day incubation period for Eastern Bluebirds, so I'm curious why you say they are 18 days from hatching; did you mean fledging?

I was doing some research today on asynchronous hatching in Tree and Violet green Swallows and read several research papers that documented both swallow species helping Eastern and Westen Bluebirds with their nest and then claiming it after the Bluebirds fledged. That may very well be the case in your observations. Where are you located? Keep us posted.

Thanks,
Rob Barron
Warrenton, Virginia

"Everything I've read and all my personal records show a 12-14 day incubation period for Eastern Bluebirds, so I'm curious why you say they are
18 days from hatching; did you mean fledging?"

Rob, I guess I should have worded it better. They hatched on June 1st, so today is the 18th day since they hatched. We had bad weather yesterday and today but they have not started even peeking out of the nestbox yet.

Cindy Groene
South Lyon, MI

Behind on archives once again, sorry!

Tree swallows TYPICALLY lay eggs on a schedule synchronized with their NEIGHBORS. Thus they USUALLY lay their eggs within 7-10 days of other TRES in the area. This may be because they tend migrate away as a group.

On the other hand, since TRES start incubating when they lay the next-to-last (penultimate) egg, the eggs may not all HATCH at the same time. And as Evelyn noted, weather may also be a factor. Thus the difference in hatch dates and size sometimes (http://www.sialis.org/asynch.htm ) Rob, I had not heard of a 5-6 day spread - I usually see one day.

This year has been WEIRD. Nesting schedules were blown to kingdom come with all the bizarre weather (cold and rainy, 42 degrees and then two weeks later 94 degrees), and I have TRES at my landfill trail that are a few days from fledging with other nests still hatching out!

Bet from CT
All about tree swallows: http://www.sialis.org/tres.htm

Hi Bet,

I sounded like a pompous know it all in my previous post to this, so to everyone, I apologize. I've been doing a lot of research on asynchronous incubation and hatching in Tree Swallows and keep getting contradictory information saying that the asynchronicity can be from extra pair bonding, weather conditions, lack of forage, nest depredation, death of the father (here I go being anthropomorphic and could have said "male"), and the health and nutrition of the mother. I read reports with a one to five day spread between the first and last egg hatching, although 1-2 days was most common. In my own experience with Tree Swallows in upstate NY I never saw more than a two day spread.

Asynchronous hatching apparently isn't that well researched. Some birds lay an extra egg as insurance against only one hatching, and only feed the firstborn and let the other one starve. Many birds don't evenly distribute food between hatchlings and the last to hatch often starves or fledges but is lower in weight and strength and has a lower survival rate. Yet, Chimney Swifts all seem to catch up and do fine.

Waterfowl and other long distance migrants already have a pair bond before arriving at the nesting territory so they can maximize their linited reproductive time without having to go through courtship. I couldn't find any research on Tree Swallows that stated the same, but in my experience, the females arrive shortly after the males and they get right down to business nesting. The timing of their fall departure seems related to an uncanny ability to anticipate the first heavy frost that will wipe out their insect food supply.

Thanks,
Rob Barron

Denise wrote: The only ones who absolutely must go truly south are those that eat only bugs such as
the Swallows.

Actually I was just reading that Tree Swallows actually eat berries (90% are bayberry/waxberry
[Myrica carolinenses] and Wax Myrtle [Myrica cerifera]) in the winter and during migration, and
possibly when insects are unavailable. (Beal, 1918) I never realized this until someone emailed me
that they saw huge flocks eating them in the early spring, at which point I emailed back....are you
sure? And they were right.

>From Birds of North America online: Tree Swallows..."Readily digest waxy coating composed of fats
(glycerides of stearic, palmitic, myristic, and oleic acids; Place and Stiles 1992). Exocarp rich in
both protein and carbohydrate; endocarp (stone) passed through gut intact. Apparently able to
subsist on bayberries alone for long periods in winter (Hausman 1927)."

You know how some people say they learn something new every day? I learn I was wrong every day :-)

Bet from CT

Cindy and Bluebirdsters:
The literature on Tree Swallows states that "occasionally an adult or adults assist the pair (with the nestlings). If yours are not helping then maybe they are just hanging around to be social or perhaps to learn the technique or for copulation opportunities.

The one and only TRES nest I have is over in extreme se Kansas. There was at least one additional TRES flying around while I was monitoring. This was during the incubation stage.

Good birding, Larry H. Joplin (sw) MO.

From: bridget mcgann [mailto:lilbmcg"at"gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 8:38 PM
Subject: Re: 4 TRES around

Ah, that seems to be what I have going on in my backyard. Not sure if the 3rd is helping out any (I've just seen them flying around together), but if not he'd better learn to help around the house if he expects to get any "copulation opportunities!"

As for me, I'm too freaked out by the dive-bombing anymore and have resigned myself to watching from afar. (Are you SURE they don't intend to hit me??) Hope to maybe catch fledging on video. I think mine are younger than I thought...As of yesterday I was still seeing diaper disposal runs going on. Still haven't seen a baby so much as stick his head out yet though. I can't wait! So far I've only seen photos and video of fledgeling TRES and they're absolutely adorable. They look like plush baby orca dolls! Indeed, there shall be photos. :)

Bridget McGann
Granger, IN

Paul,

TRES/EABL interactions fascinate me as well. I am currently monitoring trails at 11 different locations in central Ohio and one "TRES only" trail on South Bass Island (Lake Erie). One of the locations is a TRES grid of 13 boxes here in central Ohio. These boxes are spaced about 30 yards apart (Dick Tuttle's specs). This trail fascinates the heck out of me. We have one EABL nesting in the middle of it and TRES in all the other 12 boxes. I am helping a friend with this one. She lost her monitor for this trail and HOSP had taken 6 of the boxes by mid-May. They had killed 3 adult TRES in the boxes and built their nests on top of them. I also found EABL feathers and the top part of male EABL head in one of the boxes. One nest check with active HOSP control (an easy couple of visits from me) enabled these TRES to take the grid back. They are an awesome force en masse with many adults "greeting" me when I check the boxes. I can only imagine what they are doing to the lone HOSP that might peek in a box today. There has been no sign (have not seen one nor heard one) of HOSP interference at all since that nest check in May and all boxes (except the one taken by EABL) are occupied by TRES. I think that EABL is one safe dude with all those sentries about.

I have not seen a reluctance for EABL to allow TRES to nest at greater distances than my normal 12 - 15' pairing distance. Individual EABL can sometimes be more aggressive and not tolerate TRES in their territory, but that is not what I have found as the norm. For the most part, they tolerate each other well.

I have seen a couple of interesting nestings this year, however. I have EABL that are nesting only 65 yards from another pair of EABL. A tree trunk marginally blocks their view of each other, but not really. I also have TRES raising broods only 12 feet apart at two locations. They have taken both boxes of these pairs. A strange trend I am seeing this year that I have never seen before is TRES laying second clutches - quite a few of them right now. I have seen this in the past when a brood is unsuccessful, but it appears that many are renesting immediately after first brood fledges.
It is possible that these are different TRES that have waited for the first pair to vacate the box. I do not know, but I have not seen this before.

Paula Z
Powell (Central) Ohio

Bridget,

You have me chuckling for two reasons. I, too, have said that TRES remind me of little killer whales peeking out of their nestboxes. I am also picturing you running for your life with the TRES chasing you.

I can unequivocally state that in all my years monitoring TRES boxes, they have never actually hit me. They always swoop very close and click their beaks, but never hit you. Sometimes they give you a new hairdo, just a brush here and there. You could wear a wide brimmed hat if you are scared.
It would be good bird armor. I can actually look them in the eye now during the dive bombing. That took several years.

Paula Z
Powell (central) Ohio

Paula wrote: A strange trend I am seeing this year that I have never seen before is TRES laying
second clutches - quite a few of them right now. I have seen this in the past when a brood is
unsuccessful, but it appears that many are renesting immediately after first brood fledges.
It is possible that these are different TRES that have waited for the first pair to vacate the box.
I do not know, but I have not seen this before.

Paula - are they laying eggs right on top of the old skanky nest, removing any of the cr*p from the
old nest first and adding material, or did you clean the box and they built new nests? How many
days in between fledging and a new eggs showing up?

Oh if only they were banded so you could tell for sure!

Bet from CT

Bet,

In all instances, I cleaned the box and they built new nests. I cannot imagine any bird reusing a TRES nest. The nest is so filthy, flat, and full of mites when they are done with it. EABL are much better housekeepers.

I checked my trail notes for my favorite 20-box trail. Right now, I have three boxes with second nesters where they have successfully fledged a brood.
One box fledged 5 TRES, and now they have built a new nest and have laid their first egg. Another box fledged 6 TRES and there is now a clutch of 5 eggs. A third box fledged 4 TRES and there is now a clutch of 4 eggs. This trail is not saturated with TRES so I am thinking they are the same birds on round #2, but cannot be certain. Most of these second nests are a bit sparse compared to the first ones.

Paula Z
Powell (Central) Ohio

...Yesterday as I was checking my golf course boxes, I pulled up to one, opened it and checked the babies, had 4 TS ready to fledge -there was a golfer coming carrying his own equipment, He stopped and I motioned him to come ahead, he passed me as I was sitting on the cart, the TS zoomed out of the box and flew high into the sky---they came out like bullets-Really surprised me as I had never seen them fledge before.
Loren and Hughes--Pres ECIBS, Paris, IL 61944

From: bridget mcgann [mailto:lilbmcg"at"gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 6:55 PM
Subject: Re: TS fledged

What a wonderful moment! Indeed, TRES are the U2 spy planes of the animal kingdom. (As illustrated thusly: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/02.26/photos/01-ozone1-450.jpg )

It appears that mine, too, fledged today while I was at work. They seemed SO ready yesterday, and I thought it would happen but it didn't, and they weren't awake yet when I left for work. I'm so bummed because I was SO looking forward to it, what with being a newbie and all. :( But I did capture a lot of other exciting stuff (video and photos) and I will share as soon as I have the chance!

I am now off to make room for (I hope) some bluebirds!

Bridget
Granger, iN

My TRES are acting funny today. I have had a couple in a box that I
originally set up to trap HOSP but the TRES moved in. They built a nest and mom has always left me come right up within 5 feet of her. If she was in there I would not check the nest. Today she is not in there and I have about 15 TRES circling the nest box. They will come up to the hole but not go in. I checked the box and I everything looks normal. I am planning on checking the box again later but why so many other TRES flying around.

Steve Murphy

They want that box. Last year there were two TRES that tried to take
the box away from my nesting TRES. Mom and pop were trying hard to keep
them away but not doing that good of a job.

So I got a big stick and helped out. I had to make certain I didn't hit
any of the TRES tho. Mom went back in the box and protected her eggs.
She had her head out the hole watching what was happening.

Dottie, Hickory Hollow
Brown County, Indiana

Paul Kilduff
trail at Oregon Ridge Park, Cockeysville MD
Jeez, I don't know about this.
Steve, I wonder what "normal" means: eggs, nestlings, how old...?
Dottie, my take on this before reading *your* message
was that the TRES were being communal and protective.
However, our TRES never are as aggressive as those
in other parts of the continent seem to be, so take
this for what it's worth. It sounded to me as though
the TRES were what we call defending the nest - they saw
a human messing with it, someone gave a distress
call, others came running, and they all set up to
disrupt whatever predator provoked the distress call (that
would be Steve). :o)
I have seen as many as six TRES feeding nestlings (at
least I'm pretty sure that's what they were doing) in
a given box. My impression
of our TRES is that they
are very communal, and feed other birds' offspring, and
defend other birds' nest cavities.
Large numbers of TRES will defend a box by harassing
the monitor with dive-bombing (they click their beaks
and seem to do something with their wings that makes
them look bigger -- someone else said it took her a
while before she could actually look at them, and
that's about right, it's very intimidating, even though
they never touch you. I don't look, personally). I don't
look at the dive-bombing birds, but I do look into the
nestbox. If the hen is sitting tight, good for her, I
don't move her to count eggs or babies. But we don't
let the divebombing birds prevent us from opening
the box.
Could that explain what you saw?
Paul in Baltimore

While I was sitting on the front porch this morning reading the paper, fledging occurred! Or at least some of it. It was like a graduation party. The first 3 of 5 fledglings departed with quite a fanfare – what appeared to be about 5 adults fluttering very close to the hole, hovering in front of the orca-ing baby which begged, and also a number of juveniles fluttering the same way. Some of the juveniles sort of pretended to feed the baby (but apparently didn’t). One juvenile hung on the box and then went inside for a few minutes (not sure if it was one of the recently fledged ones).

There are two nestlings left in the box (one hanging out up to its breast) but I have to go to work, drat! I’m thinking the last 1 or 2 may be quite a bit slower, esp. if at least one hatched asynchronously a day or two later than the others. What I think was the adult female (drab) fed one baby and then went inside the box with the two remaining nestlings – checking to see how many were left? They don’t remove fecal sacs after about day 14. The parents did continue to feed the two leftovers, but it appeared infrequent.

Interestingly, a human walking by did not induce fledging (the baby that was orca-ing just dropped back into the box) and neither did cars driving by (this box is on a fairly quiet dirt road) – the orca-er did not change position in response to a car.

Bet from CT

Paul,

Normal to me was, mom in the nest box, allowing me to come up within 2 feet of her and dad out and about and sitting on top of the box every so often.
I am not sure of eggs as when I monitor it mom doesn't move too far and when she does leave and I check it the eggs are covered with feathers if they are there. I am onl assuming they are there and since mom is there I pretty much have said leave the box alone. My bluebirds I did check more often and checked more things.

Anyway, predator, yes it could be, but not me. I was in the house when I noticed this and so was my yellow lab. When I noticed this was all going on I went out to the nest and not one dive bombed me. And mom was not in the box on my first check. Upon my second check mom was in the box and she did not poke her head out to great me. She left when I opened the box, scared the jitters right out of me!! The 15 or so TRES that were circling the nest box eventually moved on more over to the neighbors house and did their circling over there. I even on one occassion saw a TRES go into my blue's box. Which I am sure they could take it over now that my Blue's have fledged. It is just interesting and late last night they were gone and not back today.

Steve Murphy

From: plkldf"at"comcast.net [mailto:plkldf"at"comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2006 8:00 PM
Subject: re: TRES (15 circling the box)

Interesting, Steve, thanks for the reply. I'm still not convinced that they were trying to take the box, but, again, TRES seem to act markedly differently in different areas.

I would encourage you, if mom leaves the nest, to use a pen or your breath to move the feathers aside and look into the nest. Some folks lift the sitting female off and count what's underneath - I don't think any of the monitors at Oregon Ridge go so far as that, although I think if you can pull it off you'll have a better idea what's going in the box.

The additional business about the circle's moving to a neighbor's house makes me wonder if they weren't following a cloud of small insects...?

Paul

Dear Experts,
I have a Blue Bird house on the back of our mailbox that has had several successful Blue Bird nesting's in it over the years. This year we had Tree Swallows successfully nest in it and they all grew normally and fledged a couple weeks ago. I cleaned the old nest out and scrubbed out the box with scrub brush and straight hose water, like I have done after all nesting's are finished with good success. This time though there is thousands of these very small, yet visible to the eye gray crawling bugs that are lodged in there somewhere, and run (slowly because they are so small) all over the place when I open the side. I dumped some straight Clorox in there and then rinsed it the next day. It killed the ones it came in contact with, but there are still thousands of these little things. Does anyone know what they are, and how to exterminate them without leaving a residue that could hurt future nesting's? They look like something would drive a bird crazy as it does when I get on me and it crawls around and is hard to find.
All idea's and suggestions are welcome.
Thanks.
Doug in Kensington, MD

Hi Doug,

I'm not an expert and don't play one on TV,but I've taken a few entomology courses and have a natural interest in insects, bugs, arachnids and arthropods, even though a bunblebee managed to sting me through my left eyelid into my eyeball yesterday afternoon and I'm getting a free preview of macular deneration.. From your description, it sounds like you could have mites or possibly newly hatched spiders.

I'm not far from where you are in Maryland and I doubt any Bluebirds are still looking for nesting cavities. All of mine are on their second brood and I haven't heard of three broods this far North,but maybe I'm wrong.

It sounds like your Bluebirdbox,being on the back of a mailbox,is low enough to be easily preyed on by cats, raccoons etc. I would remove the nest box, submerse it underwater in a 5 gallon bucket for a few days, then let it air dry and mount it on a pole at least 6 feet off the ground.

Keep us posted,

Rob Barron
Warrenton,Virginia

Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas extremely dry and 77*F this morning at 6 AM it was 91*F at 11 PM last night. Plants cannot cool down and pick up enough moisture at night to survive the next day in this drought.

I had a good phone visit with a man in Cumberland Ky. and he has fledged 104 bluebirds so far this summer and 102 Tree Swallows. Tree Swallows are all done on his trail but he still has another 64 bluebird babies in his nestboxes.

It was interesting because he saw his first Tree Swallows in his region and he was excited when they used one of his nestboxes for the first time 8 years ago. Next year he is going to experiment with more different back to back pairing of boxes and begin pairing of nestboxes at various distances from one another.

This past year he tried about a dozen double boxes with one common side with entrances facing different directions. One side/compartment with a round hole the other with a slot and bluebirds used each exactly 50% of the time.
He never had two species using the double boxes at the same time which he wanted/was hoping would happen to save on mounting poles.

Someone told him using a 1&1/2" diameter PVC pipe 3&1/4" long glued/screwed into the entrance hole creating a deep tube entrance would keep out the Tree Swallows and he tried about a dozen of those. He had Tree Swallows use EVERY one of these boxes but not one bluebird used this deep of an entrance hole.
He nearly destroyed the houses trying to remove the 1&1/2" inside diameter PVC tube entrance extenders.

The highway trail began years ago with more than 100 nestboxes when the state widened and cleared a long section of highway removing all trees and brush. Now he has less than 65 places clear enough for bluebird nestboxes and Tree Swallows and forest cavity nesters are taking back the nestboxes as the trees and brush/weeds re-grow. He does not have House Sparrows in a nestbox along the main road. He uses a homemade drop door type sparrow trap made from a large flat washer for nuts and bolts in nestboxes near towns and people houses. Someone showed him how to make this trap and I need to get a sample as he does not have e-mail.

Nearly each year he cuts out a bunch of nestbox kits and spends a day at a 4-H camp teaching kids and adults how to build, install and monitor nestboxes. He claims he is getting too old to continue to monitor this many nestboxes. I personally believe the bluebirds and nestboxes and helping the kids are what is keeping him "young" at heart anyway. KK

From: RRCRLEP"at"aol.com [mailto:RRCRLEP"at"aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 8:33 PM
Subject: Tree Swallows

For the first time ever, I had Tree Swallows nest in my backyard. They fledged at 21 days but none of them could fly. My husband has been putting them back in the nest box in the evening so that nothing will harm them overnight. Today there is one left that can't fly.

Is this normal for Tree Swallow fledglings? I would think not. Violet-green Swallows also nest here and I have only had one fledgling that could not fly. Were the Tree Swallow babies just not strong enough?

Renee
North Idaho

Renee in Idaho and bluebirders:

Tree Swallows (TRES) and all of our swallows for that matter fledge very strong and are usually quite capable of flight so something is not right with the family that you described.

Good birding, Larry H. Joplin (sw) MO.

Renee, I would say that is NOT normal. Fledging normally occurs 18-22 days (15-25 days possible)
after hatching. Tree Swallows (TRES) stay in the nest longer than bluebirds because they pretty
much need to be able to feed themselves after they fledge - although the parents may give them some
snacks for up to 3 days after fledging. Usually they can fly expertly as soon as they leave the
box.

I have had barn swallows fledge that couldn't fly - probably got pushed out of the tiny nest by
siblings.

In this case, sometimes it helps to put a hole restrictor on the box to keep them from jumping out
again, but still allowing the parents to feed, giving them a few extra days.

In CT, almost all TRES are already gone - had just one leftover bird and its parents that went this
week. Sometimes late nestings get abandoned as the parents start migration.

More information about TRES here: http://www.sialis.org/tres.htm

Bet from CT

....

I accidentally bought the first Terres' Songbirds in Your Garden, the 1953 version, without the bluebird trail chapter. (The sixth printing was in 1959, and there was an edition in 1987 and 1994.
That is one of the problems with buying used books at Amazon.com - you don't always know what edition you're getting, but the price is usually great!)

....

One thing in it that interested me was a design for a Kinney Tree Swallow Nestbox - see http://www.sialis.org/kinney.htm It has four holes - one 1.5", and three 1" holes. The bigger hole is for the adults, and the smaller ones were to allow nestlings to be fed faster without the parents having to enter the box, which saves them time. It also deals with the "hole hogging" issue. It says Kinney found that more nestlings survived in this box design (see Dead Tree Swallows in Nestbox info at http://www.sialis.org/tresdead.htm ), and more adults returned to nest in them in spring than in the standard box (nothing on how he determined this. I always wonder too whether there is "imprinting" going on with a nestbox style - if you have more young fledge from a box to breed, maybe they are more likely to return to the type of box they were born in?) It also has a neat "T"
perch nailed to the back, and a cleat on the roof for clinging.

It always interests me to that we are still trying to solve the same problems, decades later (he has a section on cat issues too.....)

Bet from CT

From: Robert Barron [mailto:rebarron"at"gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: Tree Swallow fledglings unable to fly

Hi everyone,
I never had Tree Swallows nest twice in upstate NY but they remained in the area easily visible over the yard and surrounding wetlands until late in the sumer and seemed to sense when an impending frost was about to kill their insect food source. Has everyone else seen them start their southward migration so early?
Thanks,
Rob Barron
Warrento, Virginia

Hi, Rob,

In my experience, Tree Swallows are first to arrive and first to leave of the swallows. Once they fledge, I see family groups and sometimes a mini-roost of unrelated TRES for about a week.
Then they all take off for larger pre-migratory roosts. I've never had resident TRES as late as the first of August at my place.

Like you, I've never seen a second nesting by a pair of TRES. Once in a while, I'll see a late nest that's probably due to a failure at some other site before finding my box or gourd.

I've seen photos of roosts of thousands of TRES taken by folks farther south. Like Purple Martins, they congregate and feed before their main migration.

Take care,

R J 'Tree' Greenwood
Catlett VA

I've been responsible for a golf course bluebird trail this year. A pair of Barn Swallows built a nest right over the light by the side of the clubhouse door. The parents got so they'd just watch the golfers go in & out & not jump off the nest while they were incubating. (BARS share incubation duties & change off every 15 minutes or so.)

So today i banded the 4 young. Mites were all over the nest & on the surrounding wall & of course they got on me. Very creepy, even if birds mites would starve on me. (& yes, i thoroughly washed my hands & arms before i went out to check the boxes.) BARS will reuse a nest if the parasite load isn't too high.
They probably wouldn't use this one again this season (it's too late even if they mites weren't so thick) but they may go back to that spot next year.

Young BARS are smaller bodied than their Tree Swallow cousins & have smaller legs. They take the same band size as Black-capped Chickadees & House Wrens, which is a size down from TRES. It was very weird to hold them because they were the wrong size for a nestbox bird. Plus, i was very worried that the freaked-out parents would make the not-ready-to-fly young jump out of the nest.

Everything worked out fine, tho, & by the time i was done checking all the bluebird boxes the parents were almost back to normal behavior. (There were 2 active bluebird nests & 1 HOWR nest with eggs. Late season HOWR seem to go further from trees & shrubs than i
expect.)

I like any bird that primarily eats bugs. (Bats are even better because they're out during the prime mosquito hours.) Next week those BARS babies will be out of the nest & foraging on their own. The whole family will probably go somewhere closer to water, where the bugs are thicker. It'll be an emptier golf course without them.

Torrey Wenger
Kalamazoo Nature Center
Kalamazoo, MI

Hi Tree,

My experience with Tree Swallows is that after fledging, the immediately congregate closer to lakes and streams where insects are abundant. I've witnessed huge flocks in NY and NJ during September, but they usually beat the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds on their southward migration. I Googled "tree swallow migration" and got less than one page of hits. Not much seems to be known about the summer location where the spend their time during our winters. Like so many migratory birds, we don't know near enough about them, but our efforts definitely seem to be helping them.

Thanks,
Rob Barron
Warrenton, Virginia

Thanks, Bet, for sharing the link to Henry Kinney's 4-Holed Swallow box. (see http://www.sialis.org/kinney.htm)

More folks are starting to understand the benefits of multiple (useable) holes on the same side of the box and it looks like some good species-specific designs are being developed. Henry's floor space also seems much larger than a standard box and it is not surprising that Henry finds more Swallows fledge from his 4-holed box compared to standard 1-holed boxes.

....

Linda Violett
Yorba Linda, Calif.

From: RRCRLEP"at"aol.com [mailto:RRCRLEP"at"aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 8:22 PM
Subject: Tree Swallow fledglings
Thanks to everyone who replied to the Tree Swallow fledglings that were unable to fly.

When my husband cleaned out the nest box, he found blowflies. So I think the blowflies were the problem. The nest box that the Violet-green Swallows used did not have blowflies though.

All the fledglings are gone now. It took a few extra days for them to be strong enough to fly.

Renee
North Idaho

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