dailydemocrat.com
By Democrat Staff
Daily Democrat
As farmer Duane Chamberlain watched the swallows in his garage, he checked his calendar. It was March 8, and his barn swallows were back, exactly the same date as last year.
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“How they make their way back from South America, where they spend their winters, to my garage every spring amazes me,” he said.
He’s always glad to see them because he likes watching them and swallows feed on insects, spending a large part of each day catching flies, beetles and mosquitoes. As for his car and the mess they make, he just parks it outside until the young fledge.
Swallows nest where there’s a combination of buildings, open space, the right type of mud for nests and open water for drinking. In general they come back to the site where they previously nested, often claiming and rebuilding old nests. Cliff swallow nests are gourd-shaped and they often nest in colonies of several hundred pairs. In contrast, barn swallow nests are cup-shaped and they tend to nest as single pairs.
It takes about one to two weeks for swallows to build nests with up to 1,400 trips to a mud source to complete one. Here in Yolo County, they usually nest in May and young leave the nest about five to six weeks later. Young remain near the colony for about a week after leaving the nest and by mid-August the swallows begin to migrate south. They live for about eight years.
Swallows are enjoyable to watch and they eat a lot of insects. However, they are messy and their nests frequently contain mites and other bugs that can bite people. If you have swallows that are nesting in areas not welcomed, they are best managed by nest removal as soon as they begin to build a nest, or exclusion techniques.
In California, old nests or nests under construction may be washed down with water or knocked down with a pole. Swallows are strongly attracted to old nests or to the remnants of deteriorated nests, so all traces of mud should be removed. Swallows persistently rebuild nests so the whole process must be repeated.
There are no chemical toxicants registered for swallow control, and shooting, trapping or harming swallows is not permitted. All swallows are included under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and are protected by state and federal regulations. Completed nests during the breeding season from Feb. 15 to Sept. 1 cannot be touched without a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Outside of these dates, the nests can be removed without a permit.
Another way to keep swallows away is to exclude them from a nest site area before the birds arrive with 1/2 to 3/4 inch netting. If swallows have eggs or young in the nest, exclusion may not be used without a permit.
