Swallows

Our resident tree swallows that we have at work did very well this year. It appeared that the most successful houses were the two down on the dock, but the houses up at the hatchery building did well too. Down on the dock it appeared that the parents might have gotten two batches of eggs hatched, raised, and fledged as the birdhouses were occupied well past the ones at the hatchery.

Jason and I got to see both parents coming and going with insects to feed the young, and the crew on the other shift even got to see little heads poking out of the hole and calling for the parents. At one point there appeared to be young fledglings hanging out down by the wharf, and if I went and stood still they would fly right around me, obviously quite curious. They took frequent breaks on the wires close by, were less coloured than the parents, and they were fluffy with down. At this same time the parents were still coming and going to the houses with bugs for feeding, which is another reason that we believe they may have been able to raise two sets of eggs.

On our last shift it appeared that the tree swallows had completely left the area, but the barn swallows were still in full action. Their acrobatics were a never-ending joy to watch as they did backflips and rolls to catch the little bugs. Unfortunately, I never did make ledge-houses for the barn swallows, so none of their nests were visible to us, but they were definitely close by. We had several young swallows that were hanging around the hatchery eager to still get fed by their parents. At one point I saw three young ones all sitting on a wire, and when the parent showed up to feed them only the one nearest to the parent had access to the bugs, since the wire did not allow passing. One of the young that was in the back of the row, came up with a creative strategy and it hopped up onto the back of its sibling. Balancing there, both with their wings flapping for balance, they both outstretched their necks and opened their beaks wide chirping at the parent. It was very neat to see. Once the parent flew away again, the little one on top balanced there for a few seconds before hopping back down onto the wire and sitting snuggled up, side by side with its sibling; the fluffy down of their tummies making them look like little puff balls. In the evening, on that same day, I saw another young one sitting on the railing outside of our bedroom window. I remained still and watched, and soon learned that I could tell how close the parent was flying to the young one, by the timing of the chicks chirping and whether or not it was fluttering its wings in excitement. If the parent was far away the chirps were slower and widely spaced, but the nearer that the parent flew the quicker the chirps became, and when the parent was quite close the young one would start flapping excitedly until the parent finally landed to feed the young one.

I also watched as a small bug flew close to the young swallow. The swallow followed it with its head, this way and that as the bug flew, but the bug remained just out of reach and the young bird did not choose to fly and catch it, even though the chick was fully capable of flight. I imagine that by the time of our next shift the swallows will be done raising their young, and possibly preparing to leave Ocean Falls until next year. It will be sad to see them go, as they were a never-ending joy to have around.