Wonderful story!  thanks for sharing

Carol Ghebelian
Indian Head, MD

June Tveekrem wrote:
>
> This is a fascinating story -- do your home repair shopping and your birding at the same time.  OK, it happened in the Minneapolis area, not Maryland, but it could just as easily happen here.  Keep your eyes peeled!
>
> June Tveekrem
> Columbia, Howard County, MD
> 
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >From the St. Paul Pioneer Press
> Sat, Jun. 26, 2004
>
> Birds opening the coop
> Nesting barn swallows figure out how to
> gain access to the Maplewood HomeDepot,
> amazing workers and wildlife experts.
>
> BY KERMIT PATTISON
>
> Perhaps bird brains should be given a little more credit.
> Some barn swallows apparently have figured out how to operate
> motion detector doors at the Home Depot store in Maplewood
> in order to nest indoors safe from weather and predators.
>
> Wildlife biologists from the Minnesota Department of Natural
> Resources are observing the birds as an unusual example
> of learned behavior and adaptation to the human environment.
>
> "I thought this is so unusual that it needs to be recorded and
> put in the book of knowledge on barn swallows," said Keith
> Stomberg, the Home Depot employee who first noticed the
> phenomenon. "This takes deductive reasoning. The term 'bird brain'
> now has got to be modified."
>
> Steve Kittelson, a DNR wildlife specialist, said it remains unclear
> to what degree the swallows have "learned" to trigger the motion
> sensors. Obviously, the birds have figured out that if they circle
> outside - much as they would instinctively do in front of a closed
> barn door - they will eventually get through. The question is whether
> they realize that their own presence actually triggers the door to open.
>
> "It's very interesting and amazing to watch that they can make this
> work to their advantage," Kittelson said. "It certainly gives them
> a secure site for nesting. They've eliminated a lot of predators
> and weather elements. They even have air conditioning."
>
> This year marks the fourth spring the swallows have taken up
> residence inside the giant home improvement retailer at 2360
> White Bear Ave. Now there are at least a dozen nests inside
> various entrances, said store manager Gregg Barker.
>
> "They'll operate all the doors," said Barker. "All of them do.
> To get inside, they'll flutter right underneath these sensors until
> it opens."
>
> The cavernous store has become an attraction for birdwatchers.
> "One lady, she stops in once a week just to check them out,"
> said Barker. "I had a couple groups bird watching who come
> and set up videos to tape them."
>
> Stomberg said he first noticed the unusual behavior about three
> years ago while working at the contractor's desk near a set of
> automatic doors. He said the swallows would flutter by the
> motion detectors until the door opened and even would do so
> as a courtesy for birds on the other side who wanted to get through.
>
> "One of the assistant managers locked the door early," Stomberg
> recalled. "The barn swallows weren't done yet. They actually
> picked him and harassed him until he unlocked the door like,
> 'Hey! Unlock the door dummy, I'm not done feeding my kids!' "
>
> Stomberg said he called the Department of Natural Resources
> last year. The DNR officials who came to investigate last spring
> initially were skeptical, he said, but then "picked their jaws up
> off the floor" as they watched the birds.
>
> Carrol Henderson, nongame wildlife supervisor for the DNR,
> said his team immediately saw swallows flying in and out of
> the door as they fed their young. Furthermore, he said the birds
> apparently remember the behavior from year to year and return
> to the same spot after winter migrations to Central and South
> America.
>
> "It expands our appreciation for the fact that there are lots of
> different birds and animals who may have intelligence greater
> than we acknowledge but normally they don't have a way of
> expressing it," said Henderson. "In this case, they're doing
> something above and beyond normal behavior. Here's a little
> piece of technology where they figured out the motion detector."
>
> Kermit Pattison can be reached at 
> or at 651-228-2183.

--
Carol Ghebelian
Indian Head, MD