Tag Archives: Tree Swallow

Tree Swallows At Rest

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Friday, May 2, 2014,

Mr. and Mrs. Tree Swallow

Four Harbors Audubon Society and the folks at Avalon Park and Preserve in Stony Brook have teamed up for years to provide bluebird boxes at Avalon with the sincere hope to attract our New York State Bird, the beautiful Eastern Bluebird. We get distressingly few bluebirds but those boxes don’t go unused. As it turns out, Tree Swallows are amongst several species that are fond of the same kind of homes that would attract bluebirds.   

This is a pair of Tree Swallows sharing a moment atop the bluebird box they have chosen for this year’s nest. A bit of a breather from the toils of the morning. They’ve both been very busy. On the right is the female. She spends much of her time collecting nesting material from the nearby fields. From what I could observe most of it appeared to be long strips of dried grasses or similar stuff. After selecting each piece, and she does seem to be kinda choosy, she brings it back to the box where she is building her nest. Then she disappears into the box for several minutes. I can’t see into the box but she’s obviously constructing her nest within. And then she’s out again, searching for more to add to the nest. It’s all go, go, go for this lady.

Meanwhile, lets not forget that male. It’s a busy day for him as well. His time is occupied by looking good in those pretty cerulean duds and watching his mate do all the work. Occasionally, he peeks in on her handiwork. Hey, it’s not easy being green, er, blue. It’s harder still deciding how to tell the missus that maybe the couch should go beneath the window. JK

 

Tree Swallows Nesting

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Monday, June 10, 2013,

A few posts back, I mentioned that many birds make use of the Bluebird boxes at Avalon Preserve. Here are some shots of a pair of Tree Swallows who have claimed one of those boxes for their own. In the shot above, the female has just returned to the box with a likely-sized twig for the nest she’s building. 

This shot shows the male keeping watch over the box. He does a lot of this. Apparently, you can’t trust the neighbors. This kind of thinking from a swallow nesting inside a Bluebird house. Go figure.

JK

Alien At The Porthole

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Friday, June 24, 2011


Sweetbriar Nature Center has several bluebird boxes in the open fields. Unfortunately, we don’t get many bluebirds. Or any, to be more precise. The boxes are still put to good use by other species.


This female Tree Swallow is raising her brood in one. She doesn’t care that the box is for bluebirds. She’s not proud. What she is is hot. That’s why she’s gaping in the lower pic. Three o’clock in the afternoon inside a 6x6x12 oven in the open sun and you’d be gasping for a breeze at the window too. Not to mention her pretty-boy mate. Oh sure, he’s handy with the occasional feeding but he barely helped build the nest and he never takes a turn at sitting the kids. He’s perched on a shady branch and singing. Singing. Well, singing don’t feed the brood and it sure as heckfire doesn’t get her out of that box and into a nice cool grove of trees, now does it? Typical male behavior. Her mother told her it would be like this and her mother was right. Those Tree Swallows are all the same. All woo and no work. JK