Originally posted by normhead There were some nesting under a culvert near where I take my beaver images in Algonquin Park, The DoT has to put up structures for them to nest when they replace such culverts.They are pretty much ineffective though, maybe these guys picked this place as their new location.
This is happening all over Ontario, all DoT culverts are being doubled in size to alleviate the effects of intense weather cells created by global warming. The problem being despite spending all that money no one checks to see if the Swallows actually will use those structures. The DoT just follows the letter of the law and really doesn't care.
I'll try and get a picture of one. Apparently they've been erected all over Ontario, where ever cliff swallows roosted in culverts.
I'm not right up on swallow behavior, but we've had phoebes nesting under the eaves of the tool shed for decades. I set up an alternate, slightly larger platform for them under the eaves, but they persisted in re-using the old, more precariously perched nest, year after year, long enough that at least three or four generations of birds raised chicks in the same bug-ridden spot. Perhaps the swallows have similar devotion to a chick-raising location that has been successful in the past, many birds are, eagles and osprey come to mind immediately.
And another sad story. Years back a big supermarket went up in a nearby town. To level the parking area, a large amount of soil/sand/gravel was bulldozed to the side and mounded into a huge pile. Swallows burrowed into the steepest side and it grew into a significant nesting colony, twenty or more pairs. I kept putting off getting pictures as I was still working. Then, after leaving the mound untouched for perhaps eight years, they dug it up and trucked it away. Very difficult to find such ideal conditions for those birds to nest = soft enough to dig but firm enough not to collapse. A crying shame it was destroyed - for what reason? Because someone needed fill and someone else could get a little money by selling some dirt?