Article by Jo Greenwood
This summer the Conservation Team has been monitoring the Barn, Tree, and Cliff Swallow nests at A Rocha Canada’s Brooksdale Environmental Centre. Currently the team is monitoring 5 Barn Swallow nests, 2 Tree Swallow nests and 69 Cliff Swallow nests. The Cliff Swallows being a particularly noisy lot!
This year A Rocha partnered with the Vancouver Avian Research Centre to host four swallow banding sessions. The team hoped especially to band Cliff Swallows. The swallows must have good memories as they are getting very good at avoiding the net! The team have also successfully banded 11 Barn Swallow nestlings, most of whom have now fledged.
By regularly checking the nests and observing the swallow pairs A Rocha has built up knowledge of swallow behaviour. The team have recorded the number of eggs per nest, when they hatch and when the birds fledge. They will be keeping an eye out for any second broods. Another goal is to see whether any of the birds that were banded last year have come back this year. This data will help to understand how well the swallow populations at Brooksdale are doing in comparison to last year and could also help to understand better why swallows are declining in Canada.
Photos: Curtis Abney, Christy Juteau
