Dealing With Tree Swallows

[Terry Suchma]

Dear Landlords,



Hey, I love Tree Swallows and I would love to have them if I did not have Purple Martins. But, Tree Swallows can give PM landlords a head of grey hair.

http://content.ornith.cornell.edu/UE...2_100026_S.jpg

Recently, I received a note from a wannabe that was becoming frustrated with Tree Swallows trying to do a palace coup in his PM nestboxes.

My advice to this landlord and others:

Since Tree Swallows (TSs) return to the nesting and breeding grounds before PMs do, it is important to have a strategy to keep them out of the PM houses.

Dan Drew of Indianapolis has such a strategy for new PM landlords that face problems with Tree Swallows.

First things, first!

Tree Swallows enjoy all the protection of state and federal wildlife laws as do Purple Martins and all other protected native bird species. Both martins and Tree Swallows are protected whereas non native, exotic species such as House Sparrows and European Starlings are not.

So, we must deal ethically with the interloping Tree Swallows.

The strategy of Dan Drew is to attract one pair of Tree Swallows (TSs) to a bluebird box close to the martin colony site. The idea is to get the TSs to nest and lay their first egg of the season. With such a bond with nest and eggs, this pair of Tree Swallows will defend the martin colony area, in which their house is within, from all other TSs. As many already know and have experienced, TSs are quite territorial in defending their territory.

In a perfect martin colony world, where there is an established colony of martins, say over 12 pairs, the martins are top dogs, er, I mean, top swallows. If TSs attempt to nest in an "established" martin colony, they will find out who is boss and that would be the martins.

However, in a new colony where there is a great presence of interloping TSs, the TSs are quite aggressive and tenacious in defending their area that may include an empty martin house.

The difference between PMs and TSs outside of their size (PMs are larger than TSs), etc, is that PMs nest colonially or socially among themselves while TSs, on the other hand, nest only individually in nestboxes, whether they are multi-compartmental like martin houses or in bluebird houses. It is one TS to one large PM house. So, if TSs end up nesting in a martin house, it is a huge waste of very valuable PM real estate.

And, if TSs are first on the newly introduced colony site, which they normally are, “before” martins, the TSs will most likely run off all young timid martin adults that come after them. We find that martins would rather not tussle with TSs at a new colony site, and, instead take residence up at an already colonized martin site where there are no TSs problems just so as to not face the conflict with their smaller, more aggressive cousins.

By allowing one TS pair to nest, lay their eggs in a bluebird house nearby, will provide an opportunity for a courageous pioneering martin pair, most likely a subadult pair, to take up residence in a new martin house.

Next spring, keep your martin house closed until you can get one TS pair to nest in that one house within the colony area. Once this happens, you can open your martin house for the wave of subadult martins that arrive six weeks after adult martins in your area.

You can have it all!

Purple Martins, Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows, even Cliff and Barn Swallows-if you have the patience and know all to do it. Once you have an established martin colony, you should not have any more trouble with TSs. The PMs will take the lead and win all the PM-TSs wars for the martin houses.

Here is a link to the Tree Swallow Emergency Page by Dan Drew:

http://www.drugfreeworkplace.com/~Da...Emergency.html

Hope this helps you with PMs and TSs and that you can get both species of swallows!

Here is Cornels page on Tree Swallow account:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAbou...e_Swallow.html

Terry

[Martin Gal]

I agree with Terry's post. Tree swallows are beautiful, amazing, and funny creatures. They are so bold, they will dive-bomb people, dogs - anything that gets near their nest. I love watching them play with a feather - dropping it, swooping down to pluck it out of the air, climbing, soaring, and repeating the process. I really enjoy them and their antics. :lol:

but - - -

They are the most FRUSTRATING things alive! :x After 2 seasons of battling tree swallows who want to get into my martin gourds -despite the fact that they have a gourd AND a regular bluebird-style box to choose from - I have decided that this year, I am not even getting my martin gourds out of storage until the tree swallows commit to their nest.

Define "commit" you say. Well, Dan Drew's very excellent web page lists a series of "points" you assign to tree swallow behavior - so much for perching together, so much for nest building, so much for copulation, etc. When you get to 100 points, they are "committed" to the chosen nesting box or gourd, and you can open up your martin housing.

With all due respect to the good doctor, I beg to disagree. Even after we reached the magic 100 points last year, as soon as I opened up the martin gourds, the tree swallows tried to move in. :? As long as tree swallows want the martin gourds, my SY adolescent male purple martins don't have the strength of will to fight them for the space. I think if I had an established colony with several strong, experienced ASY males, they would box the tree swallows' ears for them, and I wouldn't have this problem.

:idea: This year, I am defining "commitment" as "first egg laid." Once I see a little white "pearl" in the TS nest, then and only then will I hang the martin gourds. It is a nerve-racking decision, since I am afriad of missing early scouts, but if I have to struggle to keep TS out of martin housing one more time, I will be committed! :roll:

[Lou King]

Kathi. That's exactly how I did it two years ago. I decided I WOULD show them where I wanted them. Not where they wanted to be. So, I put up two BB style houses. The BBs and TSs fought tooth and nail for a few days, then both settled into a house. Once there was an egg, then I raised my housing. That worked fine that year. Last year, same thing, except once I raised the gourd rack (I'd changed to a gourd rack during the off season) the TSs decided they liked a Super Gourd. So, I let them build (Ya, I know I wasn't supposed to) Once they had an egg in the SG, I fooled them. I had a spot already set up with an arm for mounting the SG on, off to the side. I waited until they were both lounging on the power lines, then I lowered the rack, took their gourd and put it on the arm, and left the rack down. They buzzed me a couple of times, but nothing serious. They both went to where the SG had been, then looked at the SG in its new place, Went in, found their egg, and settled right in. This year, they're mostly getting some fat reserves built up, but they've also spent some time in their SG. If they start messing with the gourd rack, I'll lower it, and see what they think of that. ha ha. I think they'll go into their SG though. Now if I could only get the PMS to co-operate. CUL Lou

[Bill Hyde]

Ditto that, Lou!

Every year, my neighbor and I think up ways to improve our chances on re-establishing a martin colony here. We've noticed that every other year we get tree swallows or bluebirds here, but every year they drive away the visiting SY martins. Last year, the streak was broken when a ts pair nested here for two years in a row! And they've already returned this year too, along with several other tree swallows. We are hopeful that we can attract a second ts pair to nest about 100 feet from the active nest box, with our pm housing about half-way between the ts nests. We are keeping the pm entrances closed until we get at least one ts egg laid.

Today I stopped at a place a couple miles from our subdivision where we've noticed several bb boxes placed randomly around someone's yard. To my surprise, every bb box had a ts pair setting up housekeeping -- althought the boxes were only about 50-60 feet apart -- and all the birds seemed to accept each other! Nobody was home, so I couldn't ask questions about last year's success or failure.

I especially wanted to ask if they had bluebirds last summer, as they have been scarce as hens' teeth around here for two years now.

Something nice happened today when a neighbor asked, "Why aren't you playing those bird calls on your outdoor speaker this year?" I told her to be patient and that the dawnsong would be started around Mothers Day, when the birds return from Brazil. 8)

[stan kostka]

My experience with western martins has been much different from what I hear regarding martin and Tree swallow interactions from east of the Rocky Mountains.

Last year martins displaced Tree swallows from three colonies here on the shores of the Puget Sound. At a 23 pair colony that was in its sixth year , returning martins displaced four pairs of Tree swallows that were either on eggs or feeding young. The martins either directly or indirectly killed the Tree swallow nestlings, then removed the dead from the nest cup and laid eggs, or simply laid martin eggs on top of the Tree swallow eggs. In all four instances the martins successfully fledged young. The Tree swallows hung around the boxes for several days, then abandoned the site. The newly arrived martins seemed unfazed by the Tree swallow harassment. Not only do martins nest colonially, they engage in mobbing behavior of predators and nest site competitors, and based on what I have seen, easily displaced the breeding Tree swallows.

Another incidence of martins displacing Tree swallows ocurred at a first year site, established by five pairs of second year martins, which displaced at least one and perhaps two pairs of Tree swallows.

Most interesting was what happened at another first year site. Four nestboxes put up last spring attracted a pair of Tree swallows. When a pair of second year martins showed up in May, rather than use one of the three nearby vacant boxes, they began harrassing the Tree swallows and took over that particular box, and successfully fledged young. Yes, a solitary pair of second year martins alone evicted a pair of Tree swallows and successfully fledged young from that box.

Once years ago I observed a martin nest built on top of dead Tree swallow nestlings.

Stan Kostka
Seattle