Dear Gary and Tweeters -

I have several relevant experiences in the last decade where I now live in Sequim. One involves a Violet-green Swallow nest box on the front porch of my house. In the last 6 years nesting attempts have been made every year with successful fledging in three of those years. This year two young first showed in the opening 1 July and by late afternoon 3 July two fledglings were out flying about and returning to the box. Awkward flight dynamics had them landing on the roof, front of the box, and entering the box. Two perched for long periods between flights until dusk. Those two and a third begging from inside the box were regularly fed by the adults. The nestlings then spent the night in the box and were calling for food in the early am, 6:00 to 7:00. By shortly after 7 am all had departed and have not returned.

A couple years ago and in the same nest box, the young returned to the box for several days, spending the night with a sibling that could not be coaxed to leave the nest despite valiant efforts by the adults. After three days the reluctant fledgling and all others left without any subsequent returns.

One other observation at this nest is worthy of note. One year the crows found the nest and persisted for a day trying to scare the adults or nestlings to panic and fly away. They came in under the roof overhang on the porch, struck the box, and tried to hang onto the box a number of times. I chased them away and the group eventually gave up.

I have had other nests occupied by VG Swallows but none have ever fledged. My subjective impression is that unsuccessful nest years had inclement weather that influenced foraging success and perhaps insect abundances.

Finally, a decade ago (2008) and at a different location in Sequim, Barn Swallows built a nest just above the front door of my house. Nest constructions began 18 May and was completed by 24 May. By 4-5 July first two and eventually 4 nestlings could be seen perched on the edge of the nest. By 7 July they were flying about and perching on the roof of the house throughout the day. They returned to the nest in the late afternoon and spent the night there. I cannot say when they finally left; I recall that they were present for the next day or so before finally disappearing.

Best wishes and stay healthy to all!

Jim Karr



> On Jul 9, 2020, at 10:02 AM, Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com> wrote:

>

> Dear Tweeters,

>

> The Barn Swallows in my barn produced four chicks. About a week ago, one fell out of the nest; it was dead (and headless) when I found it on the barn floor. I am guessing that a small mammal ate part of the bird after it fell.

>

> The three remaining chicks throve. Yesterday (8th July), when I went into the barn, there were no chicks in the nest, and there were quite a few Barn Swallows flying all around me in the barn, calling. They were moving so fast that I could not count them; I could not tell if they were adults or juveniles. I assumed that the young had fledged successfully, and were flying around inside the barn.

>

> A few hours later, toward dusk, I went back to the barn, and all three young Barn Swallows were back in the nest! I don't remember ever seeing a fledged songbird return to a nest before. Checking online, I had to sort through a lot of junk websites, but did see several reasonably good sources that stated that this is rare, but not unheard of. Not as rare as a warbler feeding another species' fledgling, but still pretty cool!

>

> Now, back to a question from a week or two ago, about an egg that I'd found on my gravel driveway. No one ventured a guess, so I will venture mine. I think that the white egg was from a Eurasian Collared Dove. I suppose it could have been from a Red-breasted Sapsucker, but there are already juvenile Red-breasted Sapsuckers in my yard, and I have read that this species raises but one brood per year. I can't think of any other birds in my neighborhood that might lay such an egg, but I might be missing a species or two.

>

> Yours truly,

>

> Gary Bletsch

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