VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS
of Colorado Springs
2006
Below are the observations noted thus far:
(Note: Revisions to past entries are in BOLD letters.)
- April -- Battled sparrows to keep them out of nests.
- 04/23 Two swallows first sighted. One came into office monitored nest for about a minute.
- 05/01 Occassional bird has been seen since 4/23. Saw a large group fly by today about 4PM.
- 05/02 6:45AM: Bird sat on power line for several minutes.
- 05/05 Sparrow trying to use light pole nest. Blocked hole.
- 05/22 Reduced entrance hole on pole nest and installed trap door to catch sparrows.
- 05/24 Enlarged entrance. Sparrows sit on top of nest and keep swallows from access.
- 05/25 No sparrows today. Swallows showing interest in pole, kitchen and office nests.
- 05/25 12:15PM: Watched female trying out office nest for several minutes.
- 05/26 7:20AM: Starting to build nests in three locations. No afternoon or evening activity.
- 05/27 9:00AM: Nest building continues in pole, kitchen and office houses.
- 05/27 1:30PM: Observed Elm Beetles in kitchen nest. Had to disturb nest to get them out.
- 05/28 Start VCR recording of kitchen nest.
- 05/29 Added dead grass to kitchen nest to make up for disturbing. Bird made good use of it.
- 05/30 9:30PM: Observed swallow sleeping in kitchen nest! Many in area at twilight.
- 06/01 Kitchen swallow keeps building nest deeper-cannot see bottom for eggs. Some progress in others.
- 06/01 Added sound to kitchen recorder.
- 06/02 7:15AM: Sparrows back! Chased them off with BB gun. Kitchen nest building very active.
- 06/05 No sparrows since last entry. Females spend nights in nests but no eggs observed.
- 06/06 8:00PM: Confirmed females are staying in pole, kitchen and office nests.
- 06/06 8:30PM: Male (?) swallow hanging around office nest- female doing lot of screaming. Could she be laying an egg?
- 06/07 6:45AM: No egg in office nest but kitchen bird is staying on nest with male nearby.
- 06/08 6:30AM: Male came into kitchen nest while female nesting. 11:30AM: Two eggs in kitchen nest.
- 06/09 6:30AM: Office nest has one egg. (See note below about camera.) May have to move VCR into office and get early morning recording each day. 6:00 PM: Three eggs in kitchen nest.
- 06/09 Picture of kitchen monitor.
- 06/09 Picture of office monitor.
- 06/10 6:30AM: Two eggs in office nest.
- 06/10 Picture of office monitor.
- 06/11 7:20AM: Office female was slow to leave nest before we could see three eggs. 7:00PM: Five eggs in kitchen nest.
- 06/12 Four eggs in office nest.
- 06/13 No change in status of nests, ,just wait. Next entry will be 6/18 unless something unusual happens.
- 06/18 Males getting more concerned each day and enter nest frequently with feathers. Expect kitchen eggs to hatch about 6/23 and office eggs 6/25. Video capture device on order so that hopefully, I can put short clips of activity on line.
- 06/23 We have at least one hatched in the kitchen nest. Capture device arrived but generates files too large for making short clips. Will use it as a still camera. Following is a picture of the office nest taken today:
- 06/24 Male comes into kitchen nest frequently with food for the babies. Female spends most of her time keeping chicks warm (in this weather?).
- 06/25 8:00AM One egg has hatched in office nest. Male birds in both monitored nests are doing most of the feeding.
- 06/25 6:00PM Light too dim due to clouds to confirm, but possibly two other chicks hatched.
- 06/26 9:00AM Office nest has three chicks.
- 06/27 8:00AM All eggs in office nest have hatched.
- 07/04 Kitchen nest has four chicks with their eyes open. Beginning to chirp for food. Parents in all nests very busy feeding their young.
- 07/12 7:00AM Female no longer stays in nest at night. Chicks developing fast and trying wings.
- 07/17 8:00PM Was gone for the weekend to a family reunion. All swallows appear to be gone. We missed their solo flights.
- 07/18 6:00AM Office swallows are still here!!! Expect these birds to leave nest today. About fourteen swallows sitting on wires or flying around.
- 07/19 6:45AM All birds still in nest.
- 07/19 9:30AM Two birds in nest until now. Watched one take its maiden flight. Last bird sitting in door.
- 07/20 9:30AM Last bird stayed in nest yesterday and last night. Finally took its first flight. All birds now gone. See you next year.
If you would like to see these entries in the reverse order, i.e., newest at the top, please email me.
Also will appreciate any suggests or comments.
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We have had the joy of seeing violet-green swallows nest at our house for over 25 years. It all started when high winds blew the end piece off the eaves. A pair of swallows decided to make that their home so I was unable to repair the damage until after they raised a family and moved out. The next year, they returned and was disappointed to find no place to build their nest. Being soft-hearted, I knocked the end piece back off so they could move in again. This time, after they left, I bored a hole in the end piece before I put it back.
The following year, they came back again and was content with using the hole, but there were getting to be many more birds hanging around looking for a place to build a nest. Therefore, I proceeded to build various kinds of bird houses and placed them on the house and on power poles and trees nearby. The squirrels enjoyed the ones in the trees and took over. Since I could not keep the squirrels out of the trees, I concentrated on keeping them out of the ones on poles by placing aluminum sheeting around the poles below the birdhouse.
Four years ago, I thought it would be neat to be able to watch what was going on inside the birdhouse near the kitchen door. I purchased a small 1"x1" video camera and installed it in the end of the house. The results were so fantastic that all the neighbors gathered in my kitchen to watch the action. I ended up by putting the monitor in the window so people could come by anytime and see what was going on. At times, there would be as many as eight people looking in my window.
This year, I added a camera to the office birdhouse and now can watch two families at the same time. I'm not the first one to think of using a spy camera in the birdhouse, but I did use it before I found the James Reserve web site that also used a camera back in 2000. You may check out more facts concerning swallows at this site. Color camera on office nest and B/W with night vision camera on kitchen nest.
This is similar to the cameras installed in the birdhouses. The B/W camera in the kitchen nest has four IR leds for night vision. It is mounted in the end nearest the entrance so gives a horizontal view. You cannot see into the bottom of the nest. The color camera in the office nest has a minature microphone about the size of a pencil eraser for sound and is mounted in the roof for a vertical view. Best time for viewing this nest in is the early morning when the sun is shining on the birdhouse. However, it can be viewed by reflecting the sunlight with a mirror.
Email me if you have comments.
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so it should read "Since June 21, 2006".