Owen Sound Sun Times, Canada – May 6, 2014
Editor:
With the West Nile virus, spread by mosquitoes, with us each summer we are very lucky to have such active mosquito control as we do in this area with our free swallows, barn swallows, bank swallows and cliff swallows.
On a quiet summer evening several kinds can be enjoyed as they dart about over the water by the elevators hunting flying insects.
However there is no better place to observe family life of swallows than our own Grey Roots museum. The cliff swallow, a heritage bird which would have nested on the buildings of the pioneers, could not have chosen a better place to nest than a museum. This is the largest collection of cliff swallow nests we have seen this side of Dawson City in the Yukon.
Each nesting pair of swallows consume about 800 mosquitoes per day. By counting the number of nests and multiplying by 800 you get some idea of what a great benefit these birds are to the whole community in reducing the threat of West Nile. The only thing they want in return is a place to nest in peace and for us to tolerate or hose off the recycled mosquitoes they leave on the area below.
The saw mill, the barn, the school, etc., required a lot of work and expense to acquire. The swallows come for free, do their own building, put on a great show, help protect us from West Nile and make Grey Roots very unique.
All of the museum exhibits I have seen consist of lifeless relics from the past so Grey Roots is probably the only museum in Ontario with a living, vibrant exhibit.
The people who look after the museum are certainly to be congratulated for their farsightedness in taking advantage of this great opportunity.
Lorne Smith Owen Sound
