Tree Swallow Expansion & Mystery Deaths
Guineabird@aol.com
Mon, 29 Jun 1998 09:57:28 EDT
For the first time in more than 20 years, tree swallows (three pair) are
nesting in our area which is 3 miles north of Reisterstown MD.
Six years ago the swallows first showed an interest in some of the 14
bluebird boxes which have been up for the last 15 years.
Last year, for the first time, a box had a completed Tswallow nest but no eggs
& the birds left. (The Tswallows, unlike the bluebirds, seem to be much more
effective at fending off the myriad house sparrows that try to take over the
boxes.)
So far this year 2 pairs of swallows fledged a total of 5 young. In one of the
boxes a feathered out Tswallows was dead while the other 2 in the same box,
fledged OK.
The 3rd pair of swallows hatched 3 eggs on 6/26. I'm holding my breath.
Just about every year I find dead, feathered out Bbird nestlings in some of
the boxes while other nestlings, in the same box, eventually fledge
successfully.
There is no particular box that seems to have more than its share of problems.
There has never been any indication of blow fly or any other parasitic
invasion.
There have been periods of cold which may have effected the diet of the birds
this year (and other years too) but most times the weather is fine.
Farmers in our area use insecticides and so I have blamed the feeding of
contaminated food to the nestlings for many of these deaths.There has been an
adult female Bbird dead on the nest also.
Any other ideas that might explain these deaths, or is it just Mother Nature?
Gail Frantz
guineabird@aol.com
Woodensburg, MD