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That Nest in Birdhouses70birds
That Nest in BirdhousesBarn Swallow
Hirundo rustica
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genus: Hirundo
Species: rustica
La. passer sparrow, small bird
La. forma form, kind, species
La. hirundo a swallow
La. -idae appearance, resemblance
La. rusticus rural, country
Six to seven inches long. Dark steel blue almost black head, back, long thin speedy wings and deeply forked tail with white spots. Rich chestnut forehead, throat and breast. Light brown underside. Short wide beak.
These voracious insect eating birds are most always welcome neighbors. They hunt their prey in graceful aerobatics in open fields and farm yards. They also eat berries in late summer when they gather in large flocks before migrating.
Barn swallows have lived near humans for hundreds of years. Almost always inhabit buildings and structures in rural areas throughout most of North America and parts of Greenland. They winter in Central and South America. Additional subspecies inhabit Europe and Asia and winter as far south as South Africa and Australia.
They often return to their former nesting places.
They dive at intruders, people and farm cats in their chosen barn yards, snap their beaks and pull away just before making contact, although they become accustomed to their familiar inhabitant neighbors.
Barn swallows build nests of mud pellets reinforced with grass or straw and lined with fine grass and feathers attached to ceiling rafters or walls near a ceiling almost always in open barns or other out buildings, country churches, long covered bridges of New England, beneath piers or open boat houses, sometimes under eaves.
Females usually lay about three to six speckled white eggs which hatch after about two weeks incubation and fledglings leave the nest in about another three weeks.
They typically raise two broods. Adolescents from the first brood remain in the family and help feed the next brood of the same season.
Barn and cliff swallows need no assistance beyond the structures they often exploit, but they have been attracted to areas within their range by adding some type of overhead mantel to existing structures which did not previously provide shelter.
If shelter is available, there is no need for these shelters. Unless, for example, you don’t want them nesting under your porch and the mess they can make, maybe you can draw them away to an alternative.
Even if it’s a long shot, it’s very little effort and they are nice looking ornaments.
One shelter has a 2″ by 8″ ledge, approximately a 8″ high gable roof, an open front and partially open sides. Another has a 2″ by 6″ ledge, approximately a 6″ ceiling, an open front and partially open sides.
If there are no open buildings, mount a shelter high on the side of a barn, shed or garage. Do not mount in a tree. Make sure objects that cats and squirrels can climb do not provide access to the nest. Cats can leap 8′ horizontally! The purpose is to simulate an overhang on an inaccessible cliff face.
Barn Swallow
Hirundo rustica
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genus: Hirundo
Species: rustica
La. passer sparrow, small bird
La. forma form, kind, species
La. hirundo a swallow
La. -idae appearance, resemblance
La. rusticus rural, country
Six to seven inches long. Dark steel blue almost black head, back, long thin speedy wings and deeply forked tail with white spots. Rich chestnut forehead, throat and breast. Light brown underside. Short wide beak.
These voracious insect eating birds are most always welcome neighbors. They hunt their prey in graceful aerobatics in open fields and farm yards. They also eat berries in late summer when they gather in large flocks before migrating.
Barn swallows have lived near humans for hundreds of years. Almost always inhabit buildings and structures in rural areas throughout most of North America and parts of Greenland. They winter in Central and South America. Additional subspecies inhabit Europe and Asia and winter as far south as South Africa and Australia.
They often return to their former nesting places.
They dive at intruders, people and farm cats in their chosen barn yards, snap their beaks and pull away just before making contact, although they become accustomed to their familiar inhabitant neighbors.
Barn swallows build nests of mud pellets reinforced with grass or straw and lined with fine grass and feathers attached to ceiling rafters or walls near a ceiling almost always in open barns or other out buildings, country churches, long covered bridges of New England, beneath piers or open boat houses, sometimes under eaves.
Females usually lay about three to six speckled white eggs which hatch after about two weeks incubation and fledglings leave the nest in about another three weeks.
They typically raise two broods. Adolescents from the first brood remain in the family and help feed the next brood of the same season.
Barn and cliff swallows need no assistance beyond the structures they often exploit, but they have been attracted to areas within their range by adding some type of overhead mantel to existing structures which did not previously provide shelter.
If shelter is available, there is no need for these shelters. Unless, for example, you don’t want them nesting under your porch and the mess they can make, maybe you can draw them away to an alternative.
Even if it’s a long shot, it’s very little effort and they are nice looking ornaments.
One shelter has a 2″ by 8″ ledge, approximately a 8″ high gable roof, an open front and partially open sides.
Another has a 2″ by 6″ ledge, approximately a 6″ ceiling, an open front and partially open sides.
If there are no open buildings, mount a shelter high on the side of a barn, shed or garage.
Do not mount in a tree. Make sure objects that cats and squirrels can climb do not provide access to the nest. Cats can leap 8′ horizontally! The purpose is to simulate an overhang on an inaccessible cliff face.
Barn Swallow
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Hirundo rustica
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genus: Hirundo
Species: rustica
La. passer sparrow, small bird
La. forma form, kind, species
La. hirundo a swallow
La. -idae appearance, resemblance
La. rusticus rural, country
Six to seven inches long. Dark steel blue almost black head, back, long thin speedy wings and deeply forked tail with white spots. Rich chestnut forehead, throat and breast. Light brown underside. Short wide beak.
These voracious insect eating birds are most always welcome neighbors. They hunt their prey in graceful aerobatics in open fields and farm yards. They also eat berries in late summer when they gather in large flocks before migrating.
Barn swallows have lived near humans for hundreds of years. Almost always inhabit buildings and structures in rural areas throughout most of North America and parts of Greenland. They winter in Central and South America. Additional subspecies inhabit Europe and Asia and winter as far south as South Africa and Australia.
They often return to their former nesting places.
They dive at intruders, people and farm cats in their chosen barn yards, snap their beaks and pull away just before making contact, although they become accustomed to their familiar inhabitant neighbors.
Barn swallows build nests of mud pellets reinforced with grass or straw and lined with fine grass and feathers attached to ceiling rafters or walls near a ceiling almost always in open barns or other out buildings, country churches, long covered bridges of New England, beneath piers or open boat houses, sometimes under eaves.
Females usually lay about three to six speckled white eggs which hatch after about two weeks incubation and fledglings leave the nest in about another three weeks. They typically raise two broods.
Adolescents from the first brood remain in the family and help feed the next brood of the same season.
Barn and cliff swallows need no assistance beyond the structures they often exploit, but they have been attracted to areas within their range by adding some type of overhead mantel to existing structures which did not previously provide shelter.
If shelter is available, there is no need for these shelters. Unless, for example, you don’t want them nesting under your porch and the mess they can make, maybe you can draw them away to an alternative.
Even if it’s a long shot, it’s very little effort and they are nice looking ornaments.
One shelter has a 2″ by 8″ ledge, approximately a 8″ high gable roof, an open front and partially open sides.
Another has a 2″ by 6″ ledge, approximately a 6″ ceiling, an open front and partially open sides.
If there are no open buildings, mount a shelter high on the side of a barn, shed or garage.
Do not mount in a tree. Make sure objects that cats and squirrels can climb do not provide access to the nest. Cats can leap 8′ horizontally! The purpose is to simulate an overhang on an inaccessible cliff face.
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