John and all, Last year, Cliff Swallows built 22 nests on the side of our house and raised young. We left the nests up over the winter and some of them fell down -- we have kinda crumbly gritty soil.
During the winter, one of the nests was used as a roost by a male House Sparrow, and in the early spring before the swallows returned, the sparrow took a mate and they began to raise a family. When the swallows returned, they moved right into their old nests, and the two sparrows were not happy about it. But they did not seem to be harassing the swallows -- actually it was the other way around. As the sparrow young grew larger and heavier and the nest weathered, it fell apart, dumping two half-grown sparrows onto the ground where they did not survive a cold rainy night. Another young sparrow, probably the oldest one, did survive and hangs around the yard being fed by the adults, who come to look for it in the old swallow nest first, and then search the yard for it. So here, at least, swallows rule. I found it interesting that the swallows did not try to repair the broken nests when they returned, so there are now only 14. A few repairs were made to mostly-intact nests but the half-gone ones were left as is. More swallows are attempting to make new nests on neighboring houses where they immediately get washed off by folks who are tidier than we are, I guess. Margie Joy Pueblo West --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
