Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) photos by Larry Jordan, click on photos for full sized images

The Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) is North America’s smallest swallow. It can be distinguish from the Northern Rough-winged Swallow by its dark breast band and the white of the throat curling up behind its ear.

The Bank Swallow was listed as a threatened species in California in 1989 by the California Fish and Game Commission and the number of breeding pairs has declined steadily since then.

The main reason for this rapid decline, as in the case of most species, is loss of habitat. In California, much of the Bank Swallow’s nesting habitat in the southern and central areas has been eliminated by flood and erosion-control projects. These projects destroy or alter nesting habitat when banks are sloped to 45° and large rocks (riprap) are placed on the slope.

Historically, all Bank Swallow colonies in North America were found in natural sites such as banks along rivers, streams, lakes, and coasts; today, many colonies are in human-made sites like sand and gravel pits and road cuts.

This colony in Fall River Mills, about an hours drive from my home, is just down river from Fall River Lake and is located on a busy highway.

The two photos above the video and these few that follow are a series I took of one of the birds beginning to dig a burrow.

The bird on the left of the photo is doing the digging. You can see some of the scrape marks in the middle of the frame.

Burrows are dug with the bill, feet, and wings as birds cling to a slight projection on the bank face, and dig using their bill in a rapid, slashing motion and feet in a scratching motion. Dislodged material from inside the burrow is ejected with vigorous kicks and wriggling body and wing shuffling movements¹.

You will be able to see some of this digging behavior at the beginning of this video. While excavating burrows you will also see unpaired males performing their “territory circle-flights,” where they fly and sing in small circles around the burrow entrance advertising to unpaired females. The male perches on the burrow ledge displaying his white throat-patch if a female lands near the burrow after his display¹.

Once the burrow is excavated, the male performs “invitation flights” as he overtakes flying females and lands at the burrow to entice the female inside.

Some of the birds must have already paired up. As you may have noticed in the video above, some were seen bringing nesting material into the nest burrows.

If you look closely, just to the left of this swallow’s wing, you can see it is carrying a feather in its beak.

Observing these different behaviors I believe these Bank Swallows were in different stages of the nesting process.

This appears to be a male inviting a female to his finished burrow…

standing on his porch singing…

then flying off to perform an “invitation flight?”

Since there is no sexual dimorphism between the male and female Bank Swallow you really can’t tell them apart until they begin incubating eggs, at which point the female will have a brood patch and the male will not.

But it’s fun trying to figure it out by observing their behavior.

Whether you’re looking at a male or female, they certainly are cute.

To see more great bird photos from around the world, make sure to check out Wild Bird Wednesday and The Bird D’pot.

References: ¹Birds of North America Online

Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Yet another tragic misstep by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) in it’s seemingly never ending quest to satisfy cattle ranchers and big game hunters is reflected in its proposal to delist the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus).

In its press release Friday, June 7th, FWS writes “The proposal comes after a comprehensive review confirmed its successful recovery following management actions undertaken by federal, state and local partners following the wolf’s listing under the Endangered Species Act over three decades ago.”

This decision is obviously not based on sound science as stated in a letter from a group of scientists with expertise in carnivore taxonomy and conservation biology to the new Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell:

“The extirpation of wolves and large carnivores from large portions of the landscape is a global phenomenon with broad ecological consequences. There is a growing body of scientific literature demonstrating that top predators play critical roles in maintaining a diversity of other wildlife species and as such the composition and function of ecosystems. Research in Yellowstone National Park, for example, found that reintroduction of wolves caused changes in elk numbers and behavior which then facilitated recovery of stream-side vegetation, benefiting beavers, fish and songbirds. In this and other ways, wolves shape North American landscapes.

Given the importance of wolves and the fact that they have only just begun to recover in some regions and not at all in others, we hope you will reconsider the Service’s proposal to remove protections across most of the United States.”

FWS notes at their Gray Wolf Recovery page that they will be opening public comments on this proposal sometime this week. I urge everyone to participate in the comment period and try to prevent the implementation of this drastic step backwards for the not yet recovered Gray Wolf.

You can get more information on the Gray Wolf and this proposal from these links:

• The Wildlife News, Delisting the Gray Wolf
• Earth Justice, Wolves in Danger
• Psychology Today, When a Wolf Dies
• Exposing the Big Game, Letter from Wolf Scientists to Sally Jewell
• Northwest Public Radio, US Fish And Wildlife Propose To Delist Gray Wolf
• Independent Record, Wolf Delisting Proposed for Entire Lower 48
• USFWS, Gray Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains

Anna’s Hummingbird Female (Calypte anna) Bathing photo by Larry Jordan

Make sure to check out my latest West Coast Beat Writer post over at 10000 Birds! It’s a photo layout of a female Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna) bathing in the waterfall then preening with that long hummingbird beak in the Eucalyptus tree above the pond.

Purple Martin Male (Progne subis) photos by Larry Jordan, click on photos for full sized images

The Purple Martin (Progne subis) is a well known and popular bird in eastern North America where it breeds almost entirely in human-made martin houses. Only a few records of natural nestings east of the Rocky Mountains have been reported during the twentieth century¹. Here in western North America however, where Purple Martins are less common, they nest almost exclusively in woodpecker holes or natural cavities.

Purple Martin Female at Woodpecker Hole in Dead Snag

The Purple Martin is the largest swallow in North America and among the largest in the world, their diet consisting exclusively of flying insects.

Most migrate north in early spring via the Central American isthmus between North and South America.

As a secondary-cavity nester, the Purple Martin has also suffered from the introduction into North America of European Starlings and House Sparrows, which compete with it for nest sites throughout much of the eastern half of the continent. Without human intervention and management of these colony sites, starlings and sparrows can cause local extinction of martins by appropriating their nest cavities and making them permanently unsuitable for martin use¹.

The problem is certainly diminished in the western Purple Martin population since this group nests solitarily in its more traditional natural cavity in the wild.

Since these birds are rather scarce in central northern California where I live (note the tiny red splotch on the map above) , I was delighted to be informed of this breeding pair by another local birding friend.

Observing this pair from a safe distance with a super telephoto lens allowed me to get these photographs without disturbing the bird’s natural behavior. I watched as the female made several trips for nesting material.

On many of these forays, she was escorted by the male, which is considered to be mate-guarding behavior. He rarely brought back nesting material himself. At other times, the male would simply wait the few minutes that his mate was gone and welcome her at the cavity entrance.

Occasionally, after the female placed the nesting material into the cavity, in this case pine straw, the male would follow her into the cavity where they would disappear for a few moments. According to Birds of North America Online, in over fourteen years of observation pairs are rarely observed copulating. It is believed that this activity probably occurs within the nest cavity. From the look on this males face as the female departs, I think this may very well be the case.

Here the male has just returned following the female back to the nest site from a foray…

and here.

After the female had been in the cavity for awhile, she appeared at the entrance with something in her beak. Apparently she was doing a bit of housekeeping as she dropped, what appeared to be a seedpod of some sort, outside the nest cavity.

I’m not certain about his response.

I must say she certainly is a beauty…

no matter how you look at her.

And I think he enjoys showing off for her too.

I know I certainly enjoyed the show.

This is a film I shot of the pair at the nest site. Make sure you turn the sound up as you will hear not only the Purple Martin male singing but several other bird species in the background including a Common Raven and Mourning Dove. If you can identify some of the other songbirds singing and chattering, please let the rest of us know what they are.

References: ¹Birds of North America Online

Western Bluebird Nestling (Sialia mexicana) photos by Larry Jordan (click photos for full sized images)

Being the conscientious Bluebird Trail monitor that I am, I noticed Friday, on my way home from work, as I approached this nest box one of the nestlings was staring back at me out the entrance hole. I knew it had to be close to fledging time because I check the boxes often enough to know when the eggs hatch and therefore when the nestlings should be ready to fledge.

You never want to approach a nest box when it is close to fledging time because you don’t want the nestlings to fledge prematurely. Western Bluebirds usually fledge at around 20 days old.

So I waited until the next morning and went back to the nest box in question. They were still there. I set up at a safe distance hoping to watch the entire fledging process from the beginning.

When I arrived at around 7:30 am, the female adult was in the tree adjacent to the nest with food for the nestlings. In my experience, most birds seem to fledge in the morning which makes sense to me. That way the young birds have most of the day to get used to the real world!

I heard an Ash-throated Flycatcher nearby, another cavity nesting species that uses the bluebird houses. I was rather surprised when I witnessed the Flycatcher chasing the momma Bluebird away from her nest site. It worried me a little bit but then I thought maybe the Ash-throated Flycatcher had chosen a nest site in one of the natural cavities in the nearby oak trees.

Mamma Bluebird snuck back to the nest box and fed the nestlings the tidbit she had in her beak and took off, presumably for more food. At this stage in the nesting process the young are fed about 10 times per hour which, if your math is good, equates to about every six minutes.

But wait. What’s going on with all of these Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) images? Violet-green Swallows seem to appear out of nowhere in my experience and as I am standing there, all of a sudden, there they were! Three or four Violet-green Swallows circling me, the oak trees and the nest box!

Both Ash-throated Flycatchers and Violet-green Swallows are cavity nesting birds that will use bluebird nest boxes. I knew that they were around because I have both species currently occupying some of my other nest boxes. However, I was not aware that they were bold enough to approach and inspect occupied boxes.

At one point a swallow actually perched atop the nest box and looked down as if it was expecting to see a youngster sticking its head out the entrance hole.

In the meantime, the brilliantly colored male Western Bluebird was taking his turn bringing food to the nestlings.

At this point however, the adults were only bringing food to the nest box on some of the visits. Some trips to the nest were taken with empty beaks.

This is the point at which the adult Bluebirds try to coax the nestlings out of the nesting cavity into our world. They perch on nearby branches and call t0 them, urging them to come out of the only home they have ever known.

The young birds stick their little heads out the entrance to the birdhouse over and over again, hearing all the other birds calling around them but pinpointing that special call from their parents. Wondering if mom and dad are going to bring more food and in this case, what all those Violet-green Swallows are doing flying toward the house.

This youngster finally decided it was time and took the plunge into this big wide world. He or she flew about fifteen feet to the branch of an oak tree directly in front of the birdhouse. And, as it is always the case, as soon as the first nestling leaves the nest, another one pops its head up to look out to see where its nest mate has disappeared to.

I filmed this monumental event that goes on daily across the globe, young birds leaving their nests, depending on their parents to teach them the ways of the world. I have condensed the three hours I observed watching the first three of the five nestlings fledge into a six and a half minute video.

You will see the female Western Bluebird make a few trips to the nest with food for the chicks and then again without food. She comes back and lands on the roof of the house a few times, then perches nearby. The male also comes to the nest box without food as the nestling opens its mouth thinking it will be fed. In the meantime the Violet-green Swallow cruises by.

There is video of the first nestling perching for the first time on a tree branch and watching the swallows flying overhead. Listen for several other bird species calling in the background and see if you can identify them.

After all of this, head on over to The Bird D’pot and Wild Bird Wednesday to see all the other bird photos from around the world!

I believe that a new Wildlife Conservation Stamp is essential to advance National Wildlife Refuge enhancement and conservation of wildlife habitat in the United States. Please join the conversation at 10000 Birds and let us know what you think about this important project.