The barn swallows are back, dive-bombing cars

[SteveSS]

Although we have very few bugs in general at our elevation we do have an outbreak of Miller Moths every summer. The swallows have adapted a way of catching them. There are several articles like this.



Dear Johnnie: While waiting for the light to turn green at major intersections in Longmont and elsewhere, we notice a lot of wacky birds circling aimlessly and repeatedly dive-bombing cars. It’s really bad at Colo. 66 and Main Street and Ken Pratt and Main. Any idea what’s going on in their teeny little heads? — Tom

Dear Tom: I don’t know what’s going on in their tiny little heads, but I do know what’s going through their teeny little beaks, and that their dive-bombing is not aimless.

Those are swallows — likely barn swallows — and they are chasing miller moths, according to Jennifer Churchill, public information officer for the Division of Wildlife’s Northeast Region.

But why at intersections?

Churchill explained that at night, the moths tend to hang around the lights at those intersections, then stay around during the day. That attracts the swallows.

I found several other explanations online and cannot verify them. Those include theories that moths hide in the crevices of cars, and then fly once the cars stop at traffic lights.





I've heard the moths get under the hoods of cars. When the cars are idling at intersections they get too warm and escape. The birds have figured this out and hunt the intersections. I have never seen one of these birds land. They're in constant aerobatics.

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

I love the barn swallows. When I mow the back yard they are swooping all around me. I also like watching the bats fly around chasing bugs. The more swallows abates we have, the less bugs there are.

 

[Dave6T4]

A pair of barn swallows have made a nest under the soffit on the front of my garage.The nest is quite unique. It is built tight to the soffit, with a round tunnel entrance. So far, we are living a peaceful co-existence. When I mow the lawn, they buzz around the yard, picking off the small insects I stir up. They are so graceful in their flight.

 

[SlingLow]

A pair of barn swallows have made a nest under the soffit on the front of my garage.The nest is quite unique. It is built tight to the soffit, with a round tunnel entrance. So far, we are living a peaceful co-existence. When I mow the lawn, they buzz around the yard, picking off the small insects I stir up. They are so graceful in their flight.

They build their nests by getting a little dirt in their beak, dipping it in water, then 'attaching' it directly to the surface they're building the nest on. I see them cruising my pond and they dip into the water at full speed. It took a little research to figure out why.

At my place the barn swallows want to nest in my carport where 2 of my cars are parked. The protective covers are a mess! I picked 3 of them off last week. Only 99,999,997 more to go...

 

[Ron H]

Yeah, sometimes I have the swallows circling like crazy when mowing the yard. Hasn't happened often, but they've been so daring swopping around my head thinking one of them will take out an eye...I wear eye protection, usually sunglasses anyway..

 

[dadsbee]

You **** on my car you die.

 

[khryslerkid]

They don't like cats! They're okay in my book.

 

[Detective D]

I grew up with them in, you know, a barn as it was a dairy farm.
They will return every year to a nest sight, if they are able. So if they migrate away, if you leave the nest they will return the next year and add onto it and move back in.
They will stand on the edge and crap on whatever is right below the nest. Do not put anything below the nest, best not to let them build one where you do not want them to crap. They will eventually take the hint and move on, but they build fast so you have to be on the ball.

The diving may be to eat, but it is more likely they are defending their nest area. That is why they dive at you, it is a bluff attempt to chase you off. They are extremely agile flyers, so while it may seem they will hit you, they will not.

If you are fotunate enough to get a small group of them, they have a language. I do not know what it is, but they have a lot of calls, and if you get a dozen of them sitting on a telephone wire(OK, whatever type of wire, guess I am showing my age/background a bit) they will sit there making the most amusing slurred together chirping/whistling noises. Not short chirps, or repeated patterns, it's like they are talking to each other.

They are very intelligent birds for their size. They are enjoyable to observe, they glide so effortlessly.
The babies are cute AF. If you are within reach of a nest, and mumma is away, you can raise something up alongside and the chicks will respond to the object thinking it is feeding time. I used to do it with a pitchfork handle to show my younger siblings the baby birds as they would start to chirp and beg for food stretching their little necks out.
Then all at once they will simply all fly out of the nest one day and be gone.


We typically would not let them build n the house. Or in the machine shed. Dad would let them build one nest on the north end of the barn(inside, underneath where the cows are) that they would do about 6 feet from the north door on one of the beams, right center of the aisle. We simply scraped the little pile of crap into the gutter with the rest, and didn;t stand under it lol.
Every few years, a massive flock would show up and fill the eaves on the south end of the barn with nests. Made a mess, but then we got treated to their little conversations as they sat on the power wire that ran from the barn to the house.
And of course got divebombed every time we walked to the barn or house past their "turf".

Barn Swallows, Killdeer, and Meadow Larks are my favorite small birds.

 

[khryslerkid]

I grew up on a farm also. Walking through a field or pasture the Red Wing Blackbirds would divebomb you also if you got too close to their nest.

The Killdeer were fun to watch acting like they were wounded with their wing dragging the ground trying to lure you away from their nest location.

Each animal in the wild seems to have their own unique way of doing things to survive. Fascinating to witness.

 

[Detective D]

I grew up on a farm also. Walking through a field or pasture the Red Wing Blackbirds would divebomb you also if you got too close to their nest.

The Killdeer were fun to watch acting like they were wounded with their wing dragging the ground trying to lure you away from their nest location.

Each animal in the wild seems to have their own unique way of doing things to survive. Fascinating to witness.

Last year I was blessed to have 2 Killdeer nests hatch out, and all the little ones hung out in my yard. Talk about cute. They look EXACTLY like the adults but like 25% of the size.
The two adults spent 2 days teaching them how to do the broken wing trick. It was a tad noisy, but I didn't mind

Sadly, the swallows don't have a lot of places to build on my property and there are a couple red barns still in the neighborhood so I don't see much of them anymore.

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

They were all over my back yard tonight, along with thousands of dragon flys. One hit my arm the other night when I was mowing.

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

They don't like cats! They're okay in my book.

Thats funny because they nest in my barn right above my cats. They will dive bomb my cats when they lay in my driveway.

 

[Dave6T4]

We had 2 broods of swallows this summer from a nest built above my garage door. We respected each other, with a minimum of dive bombing. Pretty, beneficial birds.