Unusual row of bird nests

[deere755]

This is a picture taken from our boat looking up at an old railroad trestle here on Lake Shelbyville (Illinois). My wife first noticed this odd formation of bird nests - it blends in with the architecture of the bridge. We didn't know what to make of it at first and had many suggestions on what they were -- from bat nests to hornet nests to what I believe they are -- cliff swallow nests. These nests stretch all the way across the bridge on the south side only and are about the size of a football each. The second pic shows the scale of the bridge.

 

[johnk]

That sure is a lot of nests... They look like huge wasp nests, almost like mud packed well engineered homes. What are the most flying objects in the vicinity?? Birds or Bees????? Interesting.

 

[deere755]

We didn't see any activity at all around them when we took this picture. Boats pass underneath the middle arch a lot throughout the day. My wife saw a picture online of some cliff swallow nests which looked very similar to these. The article said they make their nests out of mud and tend to nest in colonies on overpasses and bridges and like water. Sounds a lot better than a colony of hornets anyway.

The arches in the bridge have quite a bit of graffitti. Used to be a teen hangout back in the 70's and 80's. Lots of "album cover" type graffiti.

 

[Redneck_Randy]

We have them here at the lake on all the bridges. Same as the pic you posted deere755, you look up and see hundreds of them all in a nice neet row. LOL I've seen small dark pointy wing birds fly in out out of the nest here.

 

[TBDonnelly]

My wife saw a picture online of some cliff swallow nests which looked very similar to these. The article said they make their nests out of mud and tend to nest in colonies on overpasses and bridges and like water.

Those nests are common in my neck of the woods. I've always called them barn swallows but have never verified it. They feed on insects. When mowing the grass the swallows aggressively fly all around the mower, feeding on the insects coming off the grass. It's quite a site. Initially I thought they were diving bombing me until one day, when the sun was low in the sky, I could see what they were really after, a meal, a feeding frenzy of sorts.

Don

 

[Egon]

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Swallow

Try this site or do a google on Cliff Swallow

 

[schmism]

. I've always called them barn swallows but have never verified it. Don

barn swallows use a cup shaped nest with an open top thats usually only a couple of inches below an overhang

(like half an upside down umbrella) as opposed to those nests which are compleatly closed off with just a round entrance hole.

 

[anthonyk]

We've got the same thing out here in Hockely, Texas.
We see them on the bottom of the overpasses.
Usually only where there's mud availble.
I've seen thousands of little black/brown birds flying in and out, and often wondered how the heck they know which house is theirs!
I was told they were barn swallows also.

Pretty neat!

anthony