Old man winter is finally defeated when the Tree swallows nest.  The Canada geese may already have goslings; the ravens

have three pretty homely heads sticking out of the brush pile way up in a spruce near our house, and the robins have set up housekeeping on a shelf I built on the side of our barn, specifically for robins.  I have to travel around Pembroke a bit to see that the Tree swallows are starting to nest, since we haven’t had any at our house since the early 1990‘s. The population of Tree swallows has dropped since then, and I haven’t been able to learn the reasons why.  At the time English sparrows were accused of using the nest boxes put up for Tree swallows or Bluebirds, but English sparrows themselves have suffered a decline in numbers.  Such are the mysteries of nature.

Tree swallows are very widespread across North America.  They have been known to breed in almost every state in the Union, and winter along the Gulf coast and into Mexico.  The primary food of Tree swallows is small flying insects such as mosquitoes and other beasties like black flies, so with the onset of these pests the swallows are always welcome.  We have four other members of the swallow family  (Hirundinidae) that we see here in the Quoddy region and these are the Barn, Cliff and Bank swallows and the Purple Martin.  The Barn swallow has the forked tail; the Cliff swallow has a light spot above its tail; the Bank swallow has a dark necklace, otherwise, with white underneath and dark above, looks like a Tree swallow, and the Purple Martin is the biggest and mostly all dark. Of these additional swallows, the Barn swallow is the most common, but with the decline of agriculture their numbers are pretty low. Purple Martins are pretty rare, and Rough winged swallows may be spotted, but I have never heard of them nesting in the area.  We also have the Chimney Swift, which looks like a swallow (or more like a cigar with wings) but the swift is in the family Apodidae and more closely related to the hummingbirds.

Tree swallows like open fields and a pond or two nearby.  I have put up hundreds of nest boxes over the years with the hope of attracting Tree swallows or Bluebirds.  These birds may use the same type of area, but harvest different types of insects.  Chickadees also use these nest boxes, especially if they are near some woods.  Tree swallows are generally individual nesters, but sometimes, like along East River road in Pembroke, they might set up a small colony.  Every April I like to check some of the nest boxes I had set up for necessary repairs and to read the results of last year’s efforts.  Years ago I got permission from Moosehorn to put a series of boxes in Hobart meadow, and this year I conscripted a few Boy Scouts to help me with the chore.  It was a little discouraging, because last year was a poor year for Tree swallows and all seven boxes had been used but were unsuccessful in their attempts for a new generation.  With high hopes we cleaned out the boxes and even put up another.

In late August and September our Tree swallows will leave for the south.  Huge flocks of them will stop at Cape Cod for a while to see if there are any late flying insects and to gorge on the many bayberries growing on the dunes.  Tree swallows are one of the few animals that can digest the wax in the various bayberry species.  From there they will winter along the Gulf coast, and largely surviving on more species of bayberries, until next year when we will welcome the Tree swallows back to the Quoddy region.  We won’t even care if they smell a little like bayberry.