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Tree
Swallow
Easter Sunday
3/23/08 Mark Burchick
Tree Swallow
Iridoprocne bicolor
- from Mark Burchick
Like clock work the tree swallows are
back in Howard County and our back
fields. Yesterday I saw several
tree swallows while fishing in southern
Maryland, so I knew they were in the
greater vicinity, but it's always great
to first see them at home!
I took these photos this morning before
we headed out for Sunday Easter mass at
St. Louis.
The Burchick family has always had tree
swallows nesting on our property and
they always arrive in late March before
the purple martins. They directly
compete with the bluebirds for the
several bluebirds nesting boxes that we
have throughout our property. The
only birds we allow to nest in them are
bluebird or tree swallow. We
actively trap for English house sparrow
(over 100 taken annually) and therefore
bluebirds and swallows have a high
fidelity/fecundity to our nesting boxes.
Tree swallows have a metallic or
iridescent blue back, white chest
and forked tail, feeding on the wing
for insects. I love it when
they follow along with the tractor
and feed on the insects kicked up
and out by the mower. I've had
several buzz around the John Deere
opportunistically feeding as I cut
grass during April, May, June and
July.
Tree swallows are the only species
of swallow that will eat plant
matter and therefore don't need to
migrate as far south for a full-time
insect diet. They winter along
the southeast coast, Florida, Mexico
and Central America. When it
comes breeding time however, they
fly north with Maryland representing
the southernmost extent of their
breeding range. They like the
'blue' states of New England and
then into Canada. I'm
confident that mine are southern
Republicans that can't swallow the
thought of crossing the Mason-Dixon.
The
tree swallows feed low with the
kingbirds, where as the martins feed
higher, and then the bats take over
in the evening. One of the
coolest things I've watched swallows
do is play catch with feathers,
where they will drop a feather in
the air, pick it up on the wing and
just play and hone their accipiter
skills.
Seven to
ten days until our purple martins
arrive!
If you go to
http://purplemartin.org/scoutreport/ you
can see that martins
have been on
the Delmarva since this weekend.
Tree
Swallow
