Blue Birds

[oldballs]

Our Swallows, Barn Swallows I call them, feed all around the fields that I mow. They zoom pretty close to the tractor sometime. And I love Purple Martins. You ever hear them put out a "War Call", with many gathering to really tear up a hawk. God's plan at work I guess.

 

[Carl_NH]

We have them here year round and at the feeder in the winter along with the squirrels they enjoy the hulled sunflowers.

 

[npalen]

We rarely see bluebirds here in North Central Kansas but have had several visit our patio feeder and bath (heated) this winter.

 

[pacerron]

I've spent hours during Summer evenings watching Bluebirds feed off the power line. It's a perfect spot for them to sit and wait on an insect to show up in the mowed yard below. As you said, I've counted as many as 32 there at one time. By the end of Summer they are used to me as well and never fly away because I'm in the yard. They also like to gather on the line when I'm mowing. Purple Martins enjoy that too. I don't have cats either.

Gotta figure out a way to get rid of the B-Martins or Tree Swallows or I'm afraid I'll not have Bluebirds or Purple Martins. Real Bummer!!!

Tree swallows are good birds. They eat just as many bugs as purple martins. They are in the same family.
Barn swallows are good too, if you don't mind them building mud nests in the tops of any open barns or animal shelters and pooping from the nests..

We have 14 blue bird boxes and it usually ends up about half of them are occupied by tree swallow families.
They are very protective of their young and help keep the sparrows away.
Sparrows love to bust bluebird eggs or kill the babies in the nest. They try that in the boxes having tree swallows and the sparrows
either get killed or driven away by the swallows.
Folks love to talk about purple martins and how they eat so many bugs and mosquitoes. Dunno, we don't have many daytime mosquitoes up here that bite. Lots of big ones in the woods but they don't bite.
The tree swallows fly around in droves while I'm mowing or on their own during the day grabbing bugs out of the air to feed their young.
We have a pond and they patrol it well too.

Just build some more bluebird boxes, put double thick wood around the hole to protect from predators, hang them the same height and enjoy all the birds and the benefits they give. If you see sparrows taking over a nest go into action.

 

[ovrszd]

Our Swallows, Barn Swallows I call them, feed all around the fields that I mow. They zoom pretty close to the tractor sometime. And I love Purple Martins. You ever hear them put out a "War Call", with many gathering to really tear up a hawk. God's plan at work I guess.

Yeah I have Barn Swallows also. They love to follow the mower. They are a lot different than the tree swallow or B-Martin as we call them.

Purple Martins have a vast vocabulary.

 

[ovrszd]

Tree swallows are good birds. They eat just as many bugs as purple martins. They are in the same family.
Barn swallows are good too, if you don't mind them building mud nests in the tops of any open barns or animal shelters and pooping from the nests..

We have 14 blue bird boxes and it usually ends up about half of them are occupied by tree swallow families.
They are very protective of their young and help keep the sparrows away.
Sparrows love to bust bluebird eggs or kill the babies in the nest. They try that in the boxes having tree swallows and the sparrows
either get killed or driven away by the swallows.
Folks love to talk about purple martins and how they eat so many bugs and mosquitoes. Dunno, we don't have many daytime mosquitoes up here that bite. Lots of big ones in the woods but they don't bite.
The tree swallows fly around in droves while I'm mowing or on their own during the day grabbing bugs out of the air to feed their young.
We have a pond and they patrol it well too.

Just build some more bluebird boxes, put double thick wood around the hole to protect from predators, hang them the same height and enjoy all the birds and the benefits they give. If you see sparrows taking over a nest go into action.

I'm not disputing what you are saying. Only going off my personal experience with the tree swallow. I gotta figure out a way to control them or I've gotta run them off. As I said earlier, they completely took over my nesting grounds last Summer running off everyone, including sparrows. Although they might mean well. I can't have that.

I've got 17 nests. They owned them all until I plugged the boxes and they left.

 

[lockhaven]

I think you are right, I think the technical name for what I have is tree swallows. I grew up hearing them called B-Martins.

Any other ideas of how to rid myself of them??? As I said earlier, they completely took over my nest area last Summer. My nests are scattered over a 3 acre area bordered by an open hay field and the area I mow of course.

I had one particular Bluebird nest box that I built in 1978. Literally hundreds of Bluebirds had hatched out of that nest. It's on a power line pole in my hayfield about 200ft from my shop. The Tree Swallows ran off my Bluebirds there last Spring. I was really upset by that!!!

very easy to have both blue birds and swallows. place a second box back to back with the existing boxs. Neither species will tolerate another of that species next to them but totally ignore the other species. The combination of both make for great insect control, blue birds get the crawlers and the swallows get the flyers

 

[ovrszd]

very easy to have both blue birds and swallows. place a second box back to back with the existing boxs. Neither species will tolerate another of that species next to them but totally ignore the other species. The combination of both make for great insect control, blue birds get the crawlers and the swallows get the flyers

I'll try the back to back boxes as suggested by someone before.

What I don't understand with this theory is why my swallows ran off my Bluebirds. I witnessed a Bluebird couple build a nest and lay eggs, then the swallows took over the nest and ran them off. Can't see how having a second box next to the first one would have stopped that??

I'm all about having a variety of birds. Love em. Can't tolerate bullies though. I learned several years ago how to place my nests so Bluebirds and Wrens could share portions of the yard. Just haven't found a solution for the tree swallow yet. Thought about shotgun practice but that seems a bit harsh. And I'd shoot a hole in my house....

 

[dmccarty]

TBN scares me some times. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

On Friday, I noticed a Blue Jay which was very odd to see in January. We have some smaller birds that stay year round, I guess they are eating berries and I see Crows that are eating something they find in the grass. I think it was a hawk that got one of our favorite chickens they other day. First chicken lost to a predator. Coyotes or foxes have torn up the garden fence surrounding our Chicken Tank. The Chicken Tank protects the chickens at night but when we let the hens out during the day, they have been escaping from the fenced garden due to the holes. Once outside the garden fence, the hens are vulnerable.

Later,
Dan

 

[pacerron]

I'll try the back to back boxes as suggested by someone before.

What I don't understand with this theory is why my swallows ran off my Bluebirds. I witnessed a Bluebird couple build a nest and lay eggs, then the swallows took over the nest and ran them off. Can't see how having a second box next to the first one would have stopped that??

I'm all about having a variety of birds. Love em. Can't tolerate bullies though. I learned several years ago how to place my nests so Bluebirds and Wrens could share portions of the yard. Just haven't found a solution for the tree swallow yet. Thought about shotgun practice but that seems a bit harsh. And I'd shoot a hole in my house....

We have never seen tree swallows destroy a bluebird nest.
Wrens will.
Coons will.
English sparrows will.
Snakes will.

Once a nest is destroyed swallows or whoever will try build on the old bluebird nest.
Unless you saw it with your own eyes how do you know who did the destruction?
Seeing swallows going in after the fact is no proof.

Another reason for the thick door hole is to keep coons from reaching in to the babies.