Archive for July 10th, 2006
Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Jun 17, 2006
Blue skies, gentle breezes, the sound of water lapping on a rocky shoreline, magnificent sunsets and storms that blow up on a moment’s notice. These are just a few of the reasons I enjoy island life, and this week I’m on Gibraltar Island in southern Lake Erie. I’m teaching “Ornithology for Teachers” at Ohio State University’s Stone Lab, a field station where students spend more time afield than in the classroom.
The highlight of the week thus far came on a short boat ride from South Bass Island to Gibraltar. I noticed a tree swallow following the boat and landing behind a stout corner post at the stern. The steel pipe is about 4 inches in diameter, and when I investigated the source of the bird’s curiosity, I discovered a 2-inch hole in the pipe about 4 feet above the deck. And inside that hole was a tree swallow nest with several chicks that were at least 10 days old.
The boat captain explained that the parents follow the boat wherever it goes, even when it travels miles from shore. I’ve read of wrens that nested in the cab of a working tractor or even a farm truck, but never a nest that every day might wander miles from port for hours at a time. Obviously it didn’t bother these tree swallows because they incubated the eggs for two weeks and have been feeding young for about 10 days. Furthermore, the captain told me that this is the third year tree swallows have nested in that post. It gives new meaning to the term “mobile home.”
Hummingbird worries
I’ve been getting lots of worrisome questions about hummingbirds. “Where are my hummingbirds this summer? I’m only seeing a few hummers every day.” I’ve gotten this question so many times over the last three weeks, it warrants an answer.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds return to the same area from one year to the next, so unless something terrible happens to your hummers, the population should remain stable from year to year.
One possibility is that last year’s horrific hurricane season could have killed large numbers of migratory birds, including hummingbirds. But it would be difficult to confirm such an occurrence because there’s seldom evidence of the loss of tiny birds.
A more likely explanation is that there is no problem with the hummingbird population at all. I’ve read nothing from the folks who track hummer populations that their numbers are down.
On the other hand, in places that have received excessive rain the last few weeks, people are reporting record numbers of hummers at feeders. Perhaps soft-bodied invertebrates such as aphids, gnats and spiders, hummingbirds’ primary live foods, are more difficult to find during wet weather and nectar feeders become more important.
I think the best explanation of low hummer numbers is that people lose track of what happened in previous years. Hummers return in late April and early May. Males arrive first and females follow about a week later. So a typical feeding station first sees some males and a week later some females. In that first two weeks it wouldn’t be unusual to six to 10 hummers visiting feeders.
But some of those birds will continue farther north, so by late May the number of birds at nectar feeders declines. Then in June, after mating, females begin nesting, and after incubation begins, they visit feeders much less frequently. So the typical early season trend of hummer numbers is a slow increase followed by a gradual decline as females spend more time on the nest.
The peak of hummer numbers is yet to come. As young hummingbirds leave the nest, the population climbs. By late July, most young will have fledged and feeders will be swarming with adult males, adult females and many juveniles. I suspect this is the time and these are the numbers people recall when feeders had to be filled several times each day.
So if you’ve wondered where your hummers are, be patient. The best is yet to come.
Send questions and comments to Dr. Scott Shalaway, RD 5, Cameron, WV 26033, or e-mail sshalaway@aol.com.
July 10th, 2006
Grand Forks Herald, ND - Jun 25, 2006
By Mike Jacobs, Publisher and Editor of the Herald
Birds face a lot of perils as they work to raise their young. This truth reached our home dramatically Saturday morning.
Suezette and I have undertaken a landscaping project that involves spreading lots of small stones. To make room for the pickup loaded with stones, we moved the car tight up against the garage door. One of the cats sensed an opportunity (This is how cats think) and got up on the hood, then leaped up to the eaves of the garage and brought down a swallow nest.
The nest belonged to a pair of cliff swallows, and they were particularly welcome. A small colony of cliff swallows nested on one of the outbuildings when we bought our place west of Gilby, N.D. We determined that the building was unsafe and took it down after the swallows had gone.
Every spring since, cliff swallows have visited our property scouting nest sites, but this is the first year they’ve actually settled down.
This pair of swallows was unusual for two reasons. First, it was alone. Usually, cliff swallows nest in colonies ranging from a dozen nests to several hundred nests. The birds didn’t build an original nest. Instead, they took over a nest built last year by barn swallows, then added their own characteristic architecture.
Barn swallows build nests that are open at the top. Cliff swallows build juglike nests with a single opening at the side.
The birds were a charming picture side by side in their nest, and they were remarkably tolerant of us. Neither took flight until we approached the nest quite closely.
All of these circumstances suggest that this is a young, inexperienced pair, probably in their first nesting year.
It’s not unusual for cliff swallows to scout new nesting sites. Often they build under bridges; more rarely, they choose the sides of buildings - often fairly high buildings such as hip-roofed barns.
It’s likely that there are more cliff swallows in the Red River Valley than any other kind of bird. Almost every rural bridge has a colony, and they nest under the big bridges across the Red River in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.
Lots of people don’t welcome swallows, I know, and they can be messy. To me, this disadvantage is offset by the pleasure I get seeing and hearing them - and by the mosquitoes that they eat.
The adult birds survived Saturday’s assault, but the nest and their eggs were destroyed. This is a catastrophe for the birds, of course. They will probably try to rebuild. If they begin a completely new nest, this process will take more than a week. Their modifications to an existing nest took almost as long.
More likely, I think, these birds will rejoin a colony elsewhere, perhaps taking over an existing nest.
Or, following a biological imperative, the female may lay her eggs in another’s nests. This behavior has been observed in cliff swallows.
In either case, I’ll miss the swallows.
Swallows aren’t universally popular, I know. How to keep them from nesting above doors is one of the questions I’m most frequently asked. Two tricks may work. One is to hang strips of aluminum foil in the areas that you want to keep free of the birds. The other - one I don’t recommend - is to destroy the bird’s work each day until they become discouraged. This is extreme, I think - and please don’t demolish a nest that has eggs in it.
I wish I could have made my cat understand.
This week brought a question about another bird that’s often a nuisance, and I’m unable to offer any suggestions. The question is how to keep blackbirds away.
If there is a species more common here than the cliff swallow, it would surely be the red-winged blackbird. This is not the bird that most blackbird-haters have in mind, however. Instead, the culprit is the common grackle, a loud, aggressive and intrusive bird that not intimidates other birds but steals their food and sometimes robs their nests.
Jacobs is editor and publisher of the Herald.
July 10th, 2006
Thanh Nien Daily, Vietnam - Jun 18, 2006
Young edible-nest swiftlets
An indoor Salangane or edible-nest swiftlet raising pilot has shown promise recently in south-central Vietnam where local residents earned their living from selling the lucrative nests as an edible delicacy.
The Khanh Hoa Salagane Nest Company has successfully incubated and raised indoor Salangane whose nests serve as a valuable dish in many Asian countries.
The pilot exhibited a hatch rate of 78.41 percent, with swiftlet’s nest prices at VND20-30 million (US$1,300-1,900) per kilogram depending on products in the domestic market.
Being aware of economic potentials from breading Salangane, the company has conducted research on reproductive process of such precious bird to adopt a complete indoor raising circle.
Le Huu Hoang, the company’s director, said it targeted to produce an indoor breading process that generated in the highest effect but less cost.
He added that the company’s staff defined parameters such as temperature, humidity and sought measures to stabilize such factors that played a vital role in the in the artificial incubation process.
With the research results and lessons from unsuccessful trails using overseas-imported incubators, the company has now designed and manufactured incubators suitable for the Vietnamese environment.
Additionally, the company’s staff also set up a standard nutrition regime and supporting techniques for raising the birds.
The company has developed three breeding houses in other localities in the Khanh Hoa province besides on in the Nha Trang city and offered consultative services to raisers in Phu Yen, Tien Giang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau.
The special swiftlets (Aerodramus fuciphagus) are found populated in Salangane Island in the Nha Trang city.
The locals harvest the bird nests (considered a delicacy) to be used in soups. These nests are processed and exported to Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The birds build their nest high on the walls of the cave on the islands. To access the nests, harvesters must climb on ladders fashioned from bamboo.
The bird nest comes in two types, white and red nests.
The nest is made out of the bird’s saliva. Usually, a typical bird creates one nest a year during springtime using both parents saliva.
Reported by Xuan Hoa – Translated by Ha Viet
July 10th, 2006