help swallows at ednewbold.com

The enemy/obstacle	The Swallow species	how you can help
The very abundant, watchful, nest-predating Crow	Barn Swallows, Purple Martins, other swallows, especially on the day the young birds fledge. Barn Swallows use their alarm call to draw the human in the house out to scare away any too-close Crows. (ptg by Ed Newbold)	Not enough is known about swallow populations to pinpoint the actual reasons why some, such as Barn Swallow, have been declining lately according to Breeding Bird Surveys. It's possible that Crows, which urbanized in the late 40s in the NW and have been increasing ever since, play some role. They prey on the just-fledged and not-yet-highly- capable swallows, and may go after a nest if the opportunity arises. Addressing the immediate problem is difficult, since Crows are exceedingly smart and no longer have much to fear from people and are aware of that. A watergun like the one to be pictured below may be of some use, although it may only serve to get some individual Crows to dislike you. To address the larger issue of Crow over-abundance, reducing lawn is recommended, since lawn is the major foraging habitat of crows (they hunt for soil-dwelling insect larvae in much the same manner as a European Starling).
Jealous & competitive House Sparrows Bullying House Sparrows that can't get into Violet Green Swallow nest boxes and therefore get jealous will sometimes harass and occasionally kill Violet Green Swallows. In the case of Cliff Swallows and Purple Martins, House Sparrows have been known to oust swallows from existing nests. (A Purple Martin is considerably larger than a House Sparrow and Cliff Swallow holes can easily be enlarged by a House Sparrow..	Violet Green Swallows, also Cliff Swallows, & sometimes Purple Martins	A water gun is better than nothing. However, House Sparrows will leave when they see you toting the gun, then come back and harass the birds again when you aren't home. Some House Sparrows appear to have nothing else in the world to do. This has caused many a nest attempt to fail. Anyone who puts up a Violet Green Swallow box can expect to see some House Sparrow jealousy. Putting up a second and even a third box will give Violet Green Swallows a second chance, which they often use to their advantage. Not all House Sparrows are bullies! Lest I give the wrong impression, it should be noted that House Sparrows are not all bullies. Recently (2006,7,8) we've watched many House Sparrows snooping and peering in on the Violet-green Swallow nest without taking any aggressive action, and it appears they are simply curious to see what's going on.
Lack of nest platforms in porches and carpools, stoops and under long overhangs (Barn Swallows are great at using mud to build strong nests, but need some horizontal ledge, support, or platform so the nest won't fall down)	Barn Swallow, photo by Brian Raven	The 2" x 2" ledge in the top photo is the right size but has never been used. Swallows like a lot of roof between the nest and the sky, no doubt for protection from Crows. The lower picture shows a ledge that came with the house. This nest suffered Crow predation and the Swallows subsequently have moved closer to us, right in the front stoop of our house on another ledge that came with the house.
Lack of mud Barn Swallows and Cliff Swallows build a nest with a combination of mud and grasses. With the intensive "plumbing" of urban areas, mud can be hard to find, and if the spring is a dry one, this could be a limiting factor for these two species. (Two others, Rough Winged and Bank Swallows, dig holes in mud or sandy banks.)	Barn Swallows (right) & also Cliff Swallows (left, flying, note squared tail & buff rump) (ptgs by Ed Newbold) Cliff Swallows often nest in areas with lots of natural mud, but I remember seeing them getting mud from a construction site in Fremont.	I put out a Mud Basin for our Barn Swallows in the median, about 15 feet from the front stoop where they nest. With this easily accessible mud-source, the pair can build a nest in 1 1/4 days. Our birds like to double clutch, so I keep the mud wet April through July.. The mud is sitting on a piece of butyl, the flagstones are for the purposes of aesthetics. Someone, I'm sure someone could make a prettier mud bath, but be sure not to give a cat anything to hide behind. 2nd Photo is of our Barn Swallows getting building material in May of '06.
Lack of nest boxes	, Violet-green Swallows (above left) & Tree Swallows (above right) ptgs by Ed Newbold. The photo in the panel at right shows a Violet-green Swallow.	photo by Ed Newbold Boxes like the one above have a great chance of attracting a Violet Green family. Every building in the northern west that has eaves and a little height above the ground should have one. Here (above) the dad is feeding one of the kids on July 4, 2005. (photo by Ed Newbold) This box produced 3 fledglings on the 11th. The family spends all day away from the house now (July 14) but still comes home to spend every night at the house, although they use a different box on the front of the house-- a good reason to have more than one box. Violet Green Swallows seem to be disappearing from some areas, like downtown Seattle, the U-District, Wallingford, Capitol Hill and South Seattle. Lack of nest boxes is likely to be a reason. Solve it by building or buying a VG nest box from our store, Seattle Audubon (8050 35th Ave. NE, Seattle), or a Wild Birds Unlimited store.Photo shows a young (2-year-old) parent approaching a box. If you build one, make the hole a diamond shape with the absolute maximum 7/8". You will not believe how small a hole a Violet Green Swallow can sail into and through at high speed. Chickadee Hut of Abbotsford, British Columbia makes the boxes we sell at the store. Tree Swallows do not normally nest in the upland neighborhoods of Puget Sound but with the help of nest boxes can make it in urban settings near lakes and, especially, wetlands. Tree Swallows can use a Violet Green Swallow box and it can be placed out in the open or on a piling over water.
Violet Green nestboxes in less than ideal locations		The above box must not be placed too badly because as I post this on the site it is housing babies that are about to fledge. However, I wanted to get it even higher up against the eaves. Occasionally, Violet Green Swallows will use boxes that aren't even under eaves, so if the only site is not ideal, it's still worth trying. This is the Chickadee Hut box that we sell at the store: note the diamond shaped entrance hole that looks so small, but the parents sail through it high speed.
lack of gourds & large nest boxes near salt water, fresh water	Purple Martin	More on this story in Viewpoint 4

lack of flying insects

Cats, other Mammals	mainly Barn Swallows	Cats aren't pre-meditated nest predators and may not play much of a role here. Afterall, cats are plentiful around barns in places like rural Illinois where the Barn Swallows are doing fine. But cats do take swallows opportunistically in the nest and when young birds are fledging: I've seen it happen. Don't inadvertently give them access to a Barn Swallow nest by putting something they can jump up on to next to it.
cold weather, high winds, drought	all swallows	The Swallow family in general is more at the mercy of weather than most other bird groups. Whereas most birds can forage longer and harder if the weather gets bad, Swallows are faced with high energy output, flying in the cold wind, and a near complete lack of flying insects if the weather is too cold. They respond in this situation by leaving their upland neighborhood territories and heading for "forageing grounds of last resort.' These are ideally wetlands but can also be low lying grassy areas or woodlands, or groves of trees that are unusually productive of insects. Preserving these areas where swallows congregate on cold spring days will help upland neighborhood swallows survive.
home & business owners, who in their otherwise admirable zealousness to appear neat and clean, don't realize that the droppings made by the baby Barn Swallows are actually a beautiful thing, because of what they signify; that a high functioning, attractive, athletic, highly parentally responsible bird is surviving thanks to your talents as a "landlord." insert: photo of barn Swallow droppings. For comparison: a Jackson Pollack	Barn Swallows, sometimes other Swallows, esp. Cliff Swallows	Reevaluation of values is advocated.
second guessing Barn Swallow nest site decisions	Barn Swallows	Barn Swallows are very smart, (witness the Barn Swallow couple that learned to use the motion detector to nest in side a Home Depot) and are much more aware of the dangers they face in parenting than people could ever be on their behalf. Don't make the mistake some people make of choosing another nest-site for them.
Wintering and migratory habitat and conditions	all swallows	join organizations such as The Nature Conservancy and attempt to support conservation initiatives in Middle and South America and Southern United States.
lack of insects	all swallows	Reduce Lawn, don't use pesticides
		Count em, Five babies, all of whom successfully fledged from our front porch stoop on about August 20, 2005. For about a week, they were ushered back to the nest every night by their doting parents, who were educating them by day about how to catch insects in the air while avoiding predators. On about Aug. 27, we think, the family left, heading for Barn Swallow wintering grounds which can be anywhere from southern Mexico to Argentina. Bon Voyage!