Nesting - Good News and Bad

[Brian Bailey]

I did a quick bike ride through Sam Smith Park this evening and made some unexpected observations. The encouraging one was a Black-crowned Night-Heron making half hearted nesting attempts on the island in the pond.

The disappointing one was what appears to be a complete abandonment of the Cliff Swallow nest colony on the filtration plant.  

Also noted: 9 Red-necked Grebe nests, 2 on rocks, 7 on rafts.  


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[JW Mills]

The disappointing one was what appears to be a complete abandonment of the Cliff Swallow nest colony on the filtration plant.  

While at the Bird Fest I attended the 9am walk led by Glen Coady. At the filtration plant he commented about the low number of Cliff Swallow nests and thought perhaps the reason was a lack of mud. At that time I noticed that most of the nests that were there were taken over by House Sparrows.
 
Perhaps a combination of lack of mud and bullying House Sparrows caused the abandonment of the colony?

[Rotarran]

While the Cliff Swallow colony at Rouge Beach park is doing well, I also noticed quite a few House Sparrow nests among the Cliff Swallow nests.  It is, perhaps, a worrying trend.  Maybe something can be done by conservation organizations to protect Cliff Swallow nesting sites.  House Sparrow can literally nest anywhere, after all.

[thouc]

I noticed the same thing with a lot of House Sparrows using Cliff Swallow nests at Bronte Harbour last year.

[Brian Bailey]

It's a a bit of a mystery, and it happened quite suddenly - I estimated 25 birds and 11 nests under construction just last Thursday.  I suspect it was the lack of mud.  The last few times I had visited, I noticed lots of birds, but very little progress on nest building.  The only completed nest had already been taken over by House Sparrows last week.  I didn't see any House Sparrows taking an interest in the almost finished nests yesterday.

The lack of rain and the reduced amount of disturbance from construction activity in the immediate vicinity have resulted in a mud shortage there.  I wonder if, as a group, they just gave up on that site and moved on to somewhere more suitable.

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[JW Mills]

Good news! The Cliff Swallows are back!
I was there this afternoon and found a thriving colony. I did not take an accurate count but estimate 30 to 40 birds with 25 or so nests completed and a small number still under construction. To top it off I did not see a single House Sparrow in the area.

[Brian Bailey]

That's good to hear. I haven't been there in a couple of weeks, but I was wondering if all the recent rain would have made a difference by creating a mud supply.


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