Subject: RE: Moving Swallow Nests
Date: Aug 28 21:01:50 1997
From: "Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney" - festuca at olywa.net


Deb Beutler wrote about a Barn Swallow nest:

"The nest was on the end of a big gate that swings shut and seals when they
fill the lock. The gate is closed for about half an hour then they drain
the lock and the gate swings open. As a result, the location of the nest
changes depending on whether the gate is open or closed. I was amazed at the idea of a moving nest."

Deb,

I've seen this in a Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) pair that had nested in the end
of a 2-inch pipe on the County ferry across the Willamette River at Buena Vista, Oregon. The
river here is at least an quarter-mile across.

At least during the springs of 1974, 1975, 1985, 1986 and 1987 (when I was crossing the river
regularly), I would watch the adults bringing food to the pipe-end - no matter on which side of
the river the ferry happened to be parked. I do not recall that I ever watched the adults returning to the nest-pipe while the ferry was moving from one riverbank to the other. The ferry operators told me that there was usually at least one nesting a year, and that they had left the cap off the pipe-end rather than replace it -- "for the birds".

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net