02-28-03 

A swallow is a general type of bird, like a thrush or a wren.  The Bluebird and the Robin are both members of the thrush family.  There are many kinds of swallow, and each one has its own unique qualities.  I hope to help people be able to identify several members of the swallow family.  Some of these identifications can be made simply by the shape of the bird’s nest or the color of its feathers.  There are also some characteristics that all North American swallows have in common.

How can you define the shape of a swallow’s tail?  Well- I think most people have a general idea about what shape “swallow tail” is, but among the birds themselves this can be a dramatic scissor shape of the Barn Swallow, all the way down to a rather unremarkable notch of the cliff swallow.  Regardless, when they fly, the tail of a swallow will never look blunt or rounded. 

Swallows are aerial insectivores, that means they eat bugs while they fly rather than while walking or hopping around and picking them up off the ground.  So, if you see a bird who is walking or hopping on the ground looking for bugs, it most likely is not a swallow.  Because they spend almost all their life either flying or perching, swallows have rather weak small legs but have very refined flying skills.  They seem to fly almost effortlessly.  Imagine the way a crow has work to lift his weight up into the air, how his wings flap with such slow purpose to keep himself aloft.  A swallow flies as if he has little jets hidden between his feathers.  They zoom and soar, seemingly without any gravity to contend with.  A barn swallow will fly about 500 miles in the course of one day’s hunting! 

The hunt for insects defines the life and death of the swallows.  They must migrate to southern climates in the winter to find a source of food, and they move northward in summer to find an abundance of insects to feed their young.  They have a large soft gape mouth to catch the insects at high speeds.  Their soft beak is defenseless against the sharp spike of the European starling or the strong crack of the English house sparrow.  Swallows who compete for cavity nest sites with these birds have a very rough go of it.  If swallows complete their migration to their summer home and are then met by an unusual snap of cold weather they may starve to death in a matter of days.  When the weather turns cold the insects can’t fly and the swallows can not scavenge through the woodland leaves the way the robins do.

If you live with a farm pond, you may have noticed in the early spring and unusual sight of many birds swarming just off the surface of your pond.  Although really quite interesting, what you are witnessing is on the brink of tragedy.  The birds you see are most likely the earliest arrivals of the tree swallows and the barn swallows.  They are trying to skim tiny gnats from the few inches of warm air right at the water’s surface.  They are expending a huge amount of energy for a small amount of fuel, and if the weather does not break within a day or two, these birds will most likely starve and die.  Purple martins will usually be in the area when this occurs, but because of their size- the meager hunt would sap their energy without replacing it. The martins stay home and try to ride it out.

   A tree swallow is a tiny little fella with a brilliant metallic aqua blue/green color back and a bright pure white belly.  The female is not quite as brilliant, and her back has just a dustier grayish color to the blue, this color will brighten up when she is fully mature.  Tree swallows love to live near wetlands and ponds.  They do not live in colonies and are highly territorial.  Because of their small size, they can nest perfectly inside a bluebird house, and like it to be about 5 feet off the ground and if possible, near a body of water.  The tree swallow makes a very fast chittery chirpy song.

   The barn swallow has a deep royal blue back and a buff colored belly.  He is an incredibly fast flyer and has the unmistakably most beautiful of the swallow’s tails.  The males and females are virtually indistinguishable.  They build a half round cup shaped nest out of mud and hair up close to a ceiling.  Sometimes in barns, carports and porches.  They like their nest to be well sheltered, but they also require a flyway which allows them to zoom in and out with ease.  A barn swallow can be quite an opportunist in finding a place, and sometimes just a broken pane of glass in the old shed is all the welcome he needs to know he can come and go with ease.  The barn swallows song has more notes to it than a tree swallow and it almost seems like a comedy, to me they sound like thay have a personal joke going on between the two of them.

   The largest swallow is the Martin.  I am sorry to report that they are not purple, but a deep black with metallic blue sheen.  The adult males have an all black appearance and the young males and females have a grayish white belly.  They nest in colonies and return every year to the place where they successfully bred the year before.  Because of their large size, they need a rather large cavity to nest in.  Unfortunately the 2 inch hole that admits a martin will also allow a starling inside, so I recommend only installing martin houses fitted with a starling resistant hole.  The martin house must be out in the open to accommodate the flight path of the martins.  If your martin house is within 40 feet of tall trees, most likely they will not use it.  Martins also like to be close to the human home, and if you put your martin house further than 200 feet from your own home, odds are that will not appeal to them either.  A martin house should designed to the specifications of the PMCA for maximum health and well being of the colony and maximum landlord enjoyment.  The song of the martin’s song is incredibly complex set of gurgles clicks and chirps.  The voice of a martin colony is one of it’s most prominent features, and the silence when they leave for the winter is one of the most mournful.

During an unseasonable cold snap, martins will huddle inside their house hoping to conserve as much strength and heat until the weather breaks.  They will frequently pack in tightly many birds in one compartment, trying to share heat.  This is a wonderfully resourceful tactic that sometimes ends in tragedy.  Occasionally the bird with his back to the door will die and the other live birds are trapped inside by the dead one.  If you have noticed your birds bunching up like this- it is wise to check on them in the morning and make sure that they can all get out safely.  Sometimes banging on the pole may be necessary, or sadly even lowering the house to remove the dead bird.  Many a purple martin landlord has discovered a tragic scene at the base of their martin house, a pile of dead and dying birds who did not have the strength to take flight.  This could be averted if the landlord had learned the emergency feeding techniques which I will discuss next week.

 Bluebirds will also huddle together for warmth, so keep an eye on your bluebird houses as well if you live in an area of abundant bluebirds.  Until they begin their breeding season, the usual territorial claim to the nest does not apply, and they welcome any bluebird with a warm body.

Much love to all,

Sarah