Thread: Swallows and Climate.

Greetings All,
We have had swallows nesting above the garage door for most of the time we have lived here, over 25 years. The position is well protected with wide eaves so likely a great spot for them. They have mostly disappeared over the winter. Early last September they reappeared, flew into the garage to give me some cheek and flew out to do whatever swallows do. This year they stayed here all winter. A few minutes ago my wife noticed a bit of activity in the nest and the bino's revealed three downy heads in the nest, months ahead of normal.
So what is going on here? Is the warming climate changing bird behaviour or is this just chance? In a good year the swallows can have up to 3 clutches so I will keep my eye on them.
Regards Grandpamac.

It's awesome to read when someone takes note of what's going on in nature. I wouldn't know ow whether climate is driving the change, but birds definitely Italy respond to changes in the environment, right down to their colouring, so anything is possible!

Down here they've been away since the start of the year, usually they disappear for winter as they do but they are starting to return now. They eyed up an area under our shed roof a couple of seasons ago...just where you can see the bird spikes, little buggers are flying around now as I speak.



I actually like the buggers, they are a cool wee bird...so much that I built them a nest box on top of the timber in the photo.



As you can see our new flatmates were well impressed and moved in immediately....that's when things changed!.
They had a couple of chick's, saw their wee beaks every now & then but we never saw them out of the nest. Never saw them leave but obviously they did and I'm certain dad got his leg over and they started another batch....the problem was that because there was a breeding pair there - every other swallow in the area started hanging around!.

I literally got sick of washing the side of the shed, deck, cars so once the little sods had left I demolished the nest box and put the spikes up, I won't do that again.

They’re dirt little buggers, shite everywhere. I’ll check my daughter house. I removed all the nests this winter

Could be temp, could also be an abundance of food this season...

I just had a Kaka land at my place, just out of Whangarei first I have seen one in over 20 years. Cool to see and I hope it's a sign of an increasing population. I know there are a few isolated pockets of them on the northland mainland, and they are on the islands of the Hen and Chicks. Made my day.

some year i see em, other years i dont.
wouldnt blame it on anything specific, or maybe my cats ate them

We have had a lot more tuis this year. Even got them around work which I havnt seen before. Maybe those storms and flooding wiped a few of them out a few years back

For a wee bird they sure shit copiously. The mess is a lot worse than starlings. I'm not tolerant of swallows for that reason although I agree they are cool birds. Fantastic acrobats in flight.

In my town I've noted what seems a permanent Tui presence for the last 5 or years. Actually right in town. Prior to that I had never seen any near here, only out in the wops. I love their song and I hope they stay.
I just thought that maybe their populations overall were on the increase .....
Also, a few times this year, I've been hearing what I guess to be a Morepork close to our home, right in town. To my half deaf ears I know their call can be similar to those doves that are about now but I only hear the calls after dark so I think the Morepork is more likely.

gmm, We can have as many as 20 kaka at our place at parua bay. They love the patch of bush behind the house. Usually just 5 to 10 tho. They're slowly spreading. The odd one showing up at tuts and now some seen in pukenui/western hill.
Bloody swallow. I like them but not in my shed shitting in everything.

Kaka seem to be mobile and have a large home range . Depends on food sources at the time of year.

They're a pain in the arse in the carport.
Shit over everything.
I line them up on the clothesline with quail shot.
Above the tractor I use 12ga at night packed with rice so not to make holes in roof iron.

We have one of those big boom box things on a bracket in our dairy shed and I took it down the other day to get to some wiring in behind it and the wee buggers had built a nest in behind it so they obviously don't mind being vibrated around listening to Sub Focus at full volume at 4 in the morning haha

Originally Posted by Cowboy

gmm, We can have as many as 20 kaka at our place at parua bay. They love the patch of bush behind the house. Usually just 5 to 10 tho. They're slowly spreading. The odd one showing up at tuts and now some seen in pukenui/western hill.
Bloody swallow. I like them but not in my shed shitting in everything.

Thats good to hear, good numbers, thanks for the info. I'm just out of Maunu seen plenty of other strange birds like Kookaburras and for years would see bats in the evening, however with more housing they seemed to have moved their range as only see them 3-4 times a year now. Cheers