I have had nest boxes up for close to 20 years.? We have had both VGs and Tree swallows use them.? Here, VGs are a marginal nester ; only occasionally and in one box.? They seem to prefer moister, cooler sites than Trees and maybe the warming climate has moved them north.? That particular box has a nest this year, and some featherless hatchlings .?

?

The Trees, which were abundant when we moved in; even nesting under the roof tiles, have also declined.? I think I have one box of them, with similarly featherless young.

?

This year, most of the boxes were used by chickadees, which have become more abundant around here.

?

When we moved in we had a pair of Barn Swallows nesting over the front door.? Kept it up for about 5 years, two broods a year.? Then, it stopped never to return.? Wonder if the nest-site choosing parent died.

?

I will need to look closer to the data I have to see what sort of a decline has occurred.? I do think that the weather in spring has affected individual nest success.? or, if it is a really ugly spring they don't nest at all.? But I think, too, that 20 years of landscape growth has a subtle but larger impact.? We moved into a house with nothing but weeds (once the Scot's Broom was mowed).? Now we have a landscaped yard with some trees, shrubs, and such.? The pasture is still open, with mixed grass and forbs .? But, as the whole neighborhood landscaping has "grown up"? I suspect that has a big influence.? It just takes longer to see it.


Hal Michael
Olympia WA
360-459-4005 (H)
ucd880 at comcast.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Aquila Chrysaetos " <ladyhawk707 at msn .com>
To: tweeters at u. washington . edu
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 7:34:59 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] re: ?Violet-Green & Barn Swallows


Tweeters,
?
I've been concerned about the decline of swallows over the last few years in my semi-rural/rural area.? In?the yard in '06, we had 12 pairs of nesting Violet-greens; in '07 there were?nine pairs; in '08, ten pairs; in 2010 &?2011 there were five pairs nesting and this year it looks like five pairs again.
?
The Barn Swallows have gone from?nine nesting pairs in 2009 to three pairs this year.? The decline is not limited to my yard, but?also other traditional V-G and Barn Swallow sites within two miles.??Just down the road from my yard are some?electrical wires where the?local swallows gather in the weeks before they migrate and their?numbers?were?very much reduced?the last three years.? We've also noticed a steep decline in the numbers of Barn Swallows on M street in Auburn.
?
Part of the reason for the decline may have been the bad weather in 2010 and 2011 which delayed nesting and allowed for only one brood per pair rather than the usual two broods.? Then again, the numbers of V-Gs?in my yard may be holding steady just because I have the only nest boxes (18 of them) in?my little neighborhood.? I used to see about three dozen neighborhhood swallows regularly take up the Cooper's Hawk alarm?above my yard.? The high count this year was a dozen today, but it is more often three or four birds.? It doesn't help that folk around here routinely knock down Barn Swallow nests because they don't like the mess beneath them.? It would be a relief to find that this is simply a localized decline, but I suspect it is not.?
?
Sandy Daniels, Enumclaw Plateau
Ladyhawk707 AT msn DOT com

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