Tuesday, August 11, 2020

American Cliff Swallows (Hirondelles à front blanc) Feeding Young

     It has been exciting to have a pair of American Cliff Swallows ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) nesting for the first time at SpruceHaven and I have watched these birds closely since the early stages of nest construction.

     Recently we confirmed that they now have young, and as far as I can tell there are at least three nestlings, all hungry, all constantly begging for food.


     I have seen more than one head at the entrance to the nest, but have not been able to get a picture.

     A clutch of young birds places great demands on the parents and they have to maintain a constant food delivery, in addition to securing enough sustenance for themselves to remain in condition to provision their nestlings. 


     I thought it would be instructive to watch the nest for an hour and here is what I recorded.

14:09 Food delivery

14:11 Food delivery

14:14 Food delivery. Retrieval of faecal sac.

14:17 Food delivery

14:22 Food delivery

14:23 Food delivery

14:28 Food delivery

14:30 Food delivery

14:36 Food delivery

14:37 Food delivery

14:39 Food delivery

14:40 Food delivery

14:41 Food delivery

14:43 Food delivery. Retrieval of faecal sac.

14:47 Food delivery

14:49 Food delivery. Both parents arrived at the same time. One entered the nest completely.

14:52 Food delivery

14:58 Food delivery

14:59 Food delivery. Retrieval of faecal sac.

15:00 Food delivery 

15:03 Food delivery. Both parents arrived at the same time.

15:07 Food delivery

     This means that food was brought to the nest, on average, every 2.7 minutes. A prodigious task indeed.

     For those not familiar with faecal sacs, many young birds excrete little packages, neatly wrapped up,  which are conveniently removed by their parents to maintain nest sanitation. The "poop packages" are dropped away from the nest so as not to leave clues for would-be predators. I caught the removal of three of them yesterday, but I may have missed a couple also.

     I had to position myself far enough away from the nest so that the birds would not be deterred from delivering food to the waiting mouths, and I am the first to admit the pictures are not the greatest, but they do illustrate the activity. Usually the birds were at the nest for mere seconds, just time enough to deposit food into gaping maws.


     One could not help but be impressed with the diligence of the two adults tirelessly going back and forth to feed their young.


     The primary inhabitants of the barn are Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) and they too have many nests with young. For a brief moment I thought one of the Barn Swallows was going to stuff food into the waiting mouth of a Cliff Swallow nestling, no doubt emitting begging cries, but at the last minute the Barn Swallow "came to its senses" and veered away.

     It was a fascinating way to spend an hour and I learned a lot. I headed for home to have a cup of tea with Miriam; the hard-working Cliff Swallows still had this to deal with.


       I wish them well. May they grace us with their presence again next year.   

     

David M. Gascoigne,
David M. Gascoigne,

I'm a life long birder. My interests are birds, nature, reading, books, outdoors, travel, food and wine.

80 comments:

  1. What a nest the swallows have built! Interesting!
    Yes I think they have a bit of a job ahead of them to feed these hungry babies! Great post David! Wish you a very nice week

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  2. Niezwykłe obserwacje ptasiej rodziny. Ciekawe fotografie. Miłego tygodnia:)

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  3. Those demands are huge and it is not surprising that the parents (regardless of species) look a little 'beaten down' by the end of the season.
    Thank you for this fascinating look and abbreviated diary of the cliff swallows day.

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    1. Even human parents can look a little "beaten down" after dealing with kids!

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  4. As often as food is provided, they will grow rapidly.

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  5. Great photos and log of the feeding times. Wow, that's a lot of work (and calorie burning) for the adult birds.

    As an FYI: when I started my initial storm damage tree clean up work last week, I noticed a lot of white butterfly / moth things flying on the trees, and even landing on me. Something has been eating a lot of the tree and plant leaves in my yard, and I'm now wondering if it's them. I've also spotted some caterpillars. I'm not sure what they are: they don't match the photos of your previous blog post on Gypsy Moths.

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    1. If your local university has an entomology department I am sure they would be able to identify the offender.

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  6. Beautiful post. The parent birds work tirelessly to feed and keep their young clean and safe, it would be great if all human parents were so diligent. Hope the young all survive and grow strong, and that they come and visit you again next year. Thanks for sharing the photos, most enjoyable. It's bedtime here, so I wish you a good night! Hugs, Valerie

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  7. Buenas noches apreciado David, una entrada fabulosa y muy bien descrita y detallada, como siempre, a la altura de ese gran profesor que llevas dentro. Es fabulosa tu labor y da por seguro que esas golondrinas han sido tan bien acogidas y mimadas que el próximo año sin lugar a dudas tendrás a sus descendientes, todo un placer.
    Tu comentario en mi blog querido amigo me ha llegado al alma.
    Recibe un fuerte abrazo de tu siempre amigo y compadre Juan.

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  8. The parent birds work so hard don't they.
    Lovely post.

    All the best Jan

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  9. Fascinating! Love it. I watched bank swallows this past week. I didn’t think to focus on one nest to observe for a few minutes. Thanks for the info.

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  10. Very intriguing, and isn’t it impressive that the parent birds know exactly what to do. Excellent photos too David!

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  11. Well, that is a lot of food delivery, but isn't that what new parents do?!!

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  12. That's an interesting study David. I'm sure the hour flew by. (No pun intended)

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  13. Very interesting the observations that you were able to make in such a short time, with the addition of good images to better understand the whole process carried out by the swallows.

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  14. I have those two bird books pretty much under my belt, so can say with some confidence, they may be back. Seriously, if alive, they still will be short of habitat.

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    Replies
    1. I am not quite sure I understand your comment, Joanne.

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  15. That was a lot of feeding and cleaning up within the space of an hour, David. As they say, a parent's work is never done and bet these 2 adults can wait until the "young-uns" leave home.

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  16. Hi David wha an interesting post. I never realized how much work it was for the parents and how interesting that they have little poop bags ,I learnt a lot from this post,stay safe and take care.

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  17. That food delivery schedule is almost mind-blowing.

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  18. Good evening professor and excellent photo man! how r u? i´m learning a more informal english jajaj XD
    Seriously speaking now: what a beautiful post, it is nostalgic, precise, romantic, a family full of love unceasingly feeding their "children", in some magical way these heavenly creatures represent the summer itself. They are so perfect...

    The heat says goodbye, it is beginning to disappear, its brightness slowly falls and the swallows will also go towards renewed sunsets... ♡♡

    Here we await them with eagerness and open arms. Welcome swallows and you -Mr David & Mrs Miriam- have a beautiful evening. Regards to SpruceHaven from buenos Aires!

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  19. Those are some busy parents. It is quite amazing how hard parent birds work to keep their babies fed. We presently have a pair of Chimney Swifts nesting in our chimney and every few minutes, all day long, dawn until dusk, we can hear the babies responding as their parents bring them food. It's a cheerful sound and we enjoy them as guests.

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  20. How interesting how often they feed their young and keep the nest clean..
    Those Swallows are certainly busy birds.
    Take care.

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  21. Great observations, and what a cute little baby peeking out!

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  22. It is exciting to observe the life of these beautiful birds!
    Thank you for the interesting report !
    Greetings

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  23. Hi David,
    The parents have huge job when they feed their babies. It must be very interesting to study the swallows.

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  24. I'm not surprised by your observations as I used to watch the Swallows feeding their young when I was a boy on the farm; I'm sure that if they'd not returned for a few minutes I would have soon lost interest at such a young age. I also probably sat myself far too close to the nest as I didn't possess binoculars, but the birds just flew past me.

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    1. The frenzied pace is obvious, but it was interesting to quantify it precisely. The Barn Swallows of your childhood were so used to humans and livestock I am sure they barely noticed you.

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  25. Hello,

    Cute photos of the Swallows. The parents are so busy taking good care of their young.
    Take care, enjoy your day!

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  26. I'm impressed with the parental activity of the adult swalows, and your patience to watch and record it!

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  27. And we humans complain about the demands made on parents in the first weeks of a baby's life!

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  28. you are lucky, being able to follow two kinds of swallows at the same spot. Amazing! And timing food delivery! Very interesting post today :)
    Thanks!

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  29. Extraordinary the report that you bring us, the life of these birds with their customs and the care of the chicks in their feeding and in the cleaning of the nest. The work they do is admirable!
    Many kisses!

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  30. Interesting observations. Hungry wee birds definitely keep the parents busy. Great post, David.

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  31. Hola, soy nuevita por aqui! que relato tan maravilloso! yo amo los pajaros, verlos en mi jardin, y mi unica mascota en estos momentos es una cacatua ninfa que me habla muchisimo. SOn hermosos. Muy lindo tu blog, me quedo! te invito a pasar por el mio y seguirnos mutuamente.

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  32. Keeping that tiny body fired up does require a lot of fuel! I imagine that the parents have to eat a few of those morsels themselves while keeping up this constant work.

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  33. Don't sell yourself short on the photos, David. You may not have been close -- but the photos are good. I can tell from the time frame it required some good patience but you were well rewarded!

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  34. David - we had a pair of tree swallows nest in the peak of our roof, and until their departure about a week and a half ago, I can testify that the feeding of the young was almost non-stop during daylight hours!

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  35. Hi David,
    it's impressing the energy birds must put in to raise the next generation.
    You made an interesting report. It must have been a joy to follow these swallows.

    Best regards, Corrie

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  36. THat's really great news about the Cliff Swallows, David, and interesting to learn of the frequency of visits. A great photographic record too! It must be exhausting for the parents, and I'm wondering when they have time to rest and feed themselves.

    My best wishes to you both - - - Richard

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  37. I thoroughly enjoyed your recent posts about the raising of butterflies and adorable Lily with her happy Mom. If only we could elect a bird watcher sometime maybe things would be different for all the Lilies of the world. Swallows are amazing birds with an interesting mythology too. So happy these are doing well thanks to such diligent parents. Happy Observing to you!

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  38. Ce sont de bons parents, quelle énergie!Belles photos.
    Bonne soirée

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  39. It is and interesting nest. And I thought I was busy.

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  40. Thank you for such a fascinating look into the world of the Cliff Swallow. I enjoyed both photos and information very much. Also came by to thank you for identifying my Red-winged Hawk. Appreciate its ID very much!

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    1. It is a Red-shouldered Hawk, Denise. i say this not to be pedantic, but I would hate to have a fellow ornithologist think I have gone astray!

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    2. Thanks again David, must not have that. A new species invented by moi? Lol! Don't want that either.

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    3. Back again! I don't want to be too cheeky but would you please take a look at the hawk I put on my latest post? I promise I won't make a nuisance of myself :) This hawk settled on a branch in my back yard yesterday and I have tried but am still not sure as to its exact ID.

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    4. Just in case you don't see this for a while, here is the link.

      https://anenglishgirlrambles2016.blogspot.com/2020/08/in-back-of-garden.html

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  41. Hi David,
    After you have been observing these birds carefully you clearly are impressed by the diligence of the parents. It must be a hugh number of insects they catch every day in order to feed their off-spring.
    In every aspect it is great to see all these swallows being so busy. Hopefully they all will stand the long journey that lies in front of them.
    Greetngs, Kees

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  42. Wow and I thought I was busy!!! Will you ring them before they leave the nest? Cheers Diane

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    1. It is difficult to access these birds due to the nest structure. They will fly away without bling, Diane.

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    2. Seems a shame but good luck to the little fellows.

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  43. David, to reply to your question on my post about the Dammit Dolls, yes there is one of those models available on the website. It’s shown in the first collage on the post, so you can whack away😀

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  44. Really beautiful... Happy weekend David

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  45. You have recorded the dilgence of these swallows incredibly well David, given how swiftly they fly to and fro. I wonder when Mum and Dad get time to feed for themselves? They would be using up a lot of energy.

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  46. Hello David,
    I like to see all the birds doing well. It is great you are able to watch these Cliff Swallows feeding their babies. They are so cute. I love all the swallows. I do hope they return next year. Great post and photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care and enjoy your day, wishing you a happy weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

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  47. Thank you very much for your visit and lovely comment. I'm so pleased you liked the leafy watercolours.

    There's lots of fascinating avian detail here on your blog. I'm going to suggest my mother pays you a visit - she's an obsessive watcher of the live osprey feeds through the spring and summer months.
    Alison x

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    1. They are fascinating birds to watch indeed. We watched a recently fledged youngster recently get into a tussle with a Bald Eagle and I think he quickly concluded that was not a good idea!

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  48. I'm filled with admiration for your willingness to watch and record the feeding schedule! I've had the chance to watch swallows feeding their young at my work, since they'll often build nests beneath the floating docks where the boats are tied up. Since the docks are quite securely built, with metal supports beneath the concrete surface, there are nice, cozy spots for nests. And, since the docks rise and fall with the tide, there's no danger of flooding. It's amazing that the birds figured that out, and equally amazing that, as they fly full tilt to the nest just above the water, that they unerringly 'hit' the nest, and not the surrounding dock! Even better, I always know when the parents are on the way, because the babies start cheeping -- how do they know?

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    1. The most interesting account I read was of a pair of Barn Swallows that built their nest on a Hudson River barge and had no trouble moving up and down the river with it each day and raised a successful brood.

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  49. Love the photos and the info is fascinating!

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  50. I love the first photo where all you can see is a gaping mouth! That’s just what it looks like to Mom or Dad when they fly in with a treat, I imagine. Interesting about the barn swallow almost feeding the wrong youngster and veering off at the last minute.

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  51. Oh my, those young ones are hungry all the time, aren't they? What a neat post. And I hope they come again too!

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  52. And we think teenagers eat all the time! Fascinating account of the swallows and interesting to learn something new in regards to the "poop packages" Wonderful post and I thought the photos were great. Happy Saturday!

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  53. My admiration for swallows just grew - and I've always loved them. Such commitment to their babies and they never seem to tire and fly slower or with less grace.

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  54. Hello David, great to read these birds are doing so well. And the freequence of food delivery is amazing. I do wish them well and hope indeed you can show us next season they have returned.
    Regards,
    Roos

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  55. I learned so much! Important, informative info. Loved it all...commentary AND photos! Thanks so much for taking time from your day to share your birding with us at IRBB this week.

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    Replies
    1. It always makes me very happy when people say they learn from my blog. Surely that is the ultimate satisfaction.

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  56. hello David
    I was able to observe this feeding very well and even at work, the barn swallows nest under the roof edge and the parents fly skillfully through the scaffolding, over and over again, very nice to look at
    Greetings Frank

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  57. The Swallow is a busy parent, looks like it have a hard work.

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  58. Great photos!
    Interesting information too.

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  59. Una pareja muy ocupada.
    Tuvimos un nido hace tiempo en el huerto y el trasiego de los padres era tremendo no paraban. Me ha gustado David.
    Que terminéis bien el domingo. Cuidaros.
    Un abrazo.

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  60. Querido amigo David, siempre disfruto con tus reportajes y estás golondrinas me gustan mucho, fue una de las aves de mi niñez, entonces había nidos por todas partes. Gracias y abrazos.

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  61. Swallow's nests look interesting.
    You've spent a lot of time watching birds.
    It's a great job.
    Hugs and greetings.

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  62. Hi David - what a brilliant summary of life at the nest ... aren't they incredible how they feed and succour their young - wonderful ... thanks for sharing with us - Hilary

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  63. Hi dear professor, good evening! i hope you enjoy a happy rest, surrounded by the love of your daughter Caroline and family. It´s my wish that you have a great time and lots of joy in your holidays. Saludos Ottawa!❤️🍀❤️🍀❤️

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  64. Nieźle się bawiłam czytając rozkład dnia jaskółek! Jak to dobrze, że my nie musimy tak często karmić dzieci!

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  65. Hi friend David :-),
    hahahahaha ..... a really nice blog with an increasing report of meal times etc hahahahaha ..... Moreover, the photos of the swallows are also beautiful to see.
    Really very nice done :-)))))
    Love from the Netherlands xx
    Helma

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