The guardian of the colony Meet the Tree Swallow

[Martin man RI]

Hello Folks!
I have 30 years experience with numerous colony's And we all deal with the fly over Cooper's looking for a fast meal. Well This is what i want you to do there is a smaller cousin
of the Martin he is there best protector. Common in northern states. The much smaller Tree Swallow Should a coopers hawk fly at the colony this little swallow gives the scariest
blood curling calls it almost makes you want to run for cover. I always set sites up with these little guys i know when i am not around this little bird gives it all he got to help the colony
in case of a raid by any hawk, falcon. crow. Some tree swallow are passive and others will even dive bomb me until im away from the colony i set the box right in the middle of the racks
and i feel i have 100% protection of my colony in day light hours while at work. If a human gets to close he will dive bomb them until they have moved on. Northern Landlords employee
this little guy you wont regret it. I know they can be impossible if you dont have martins but once you have a colony you must add a wooden box for the swallows.
There is a large flock of yearlings and they are all blocked by adults Points north of me are in for a big surprise once these guys move on. Many new sites will be started. I feel bad
but cannot support anymore.

Ray Marr
Rhode Island

[C.C.Martins]

Quite the helper! And enjoyable to boot, saw some videos of someone throwing white feathers up and boy did they go for them.
I wish we had them this far south.
You are lucky sir!! Good technique to house them in the colony.

[Jones4381]

Their clacking noise can catch you off guard when they dive bomb you...one I thought yesterday was going to peck my ear...ducked and all. I agree, 6 pairs here and they are constantly sounding the alarm and they are very alert and protective.

[Martintown33]

Wish we had tree swallows down here in Louisiana too! Great warning system! But the grackles and crows help out with the hawk deterrents here..
Rob

[defed]

hopefully next year (or maybe the yr after), i will be able to let them nest here again. i've had to banish them as they are too aggressive against visiting PMs. i've tried all methods of the protocol w/ no luck. 2 yrs ago i had 1 pair (none returned the next yr) but got 2 new pair the next yr (none returned this yr) and this yr i have 4 or 5 new pair so far....so hopefully i have enough that some return, claim the racks earlier so i don't have to keep the TS away. every yr that i've had to 'start over', they show up later than the TS.

[Mstan]

I agree, I also have a pair of tree swallows nesting in a box close to my racks. They are great protectors of the colony. I watched them drive off a blue jay and vulture that got to close to the racks.

[randyM]

Tree swallows are indeed a good addition in close proximity to an existing martin colony. I have 125 single-unit nest boxes and gourds around the perimeter of my 40-ac property, 10 of which are within 90 feet of my martin housing. I usually have about 100 tree swallow nests each year. Between the tree swallows in the nest boxes, the bank swallows nesting along the lake shore, the cliff and barn swallows nesting under eaves of my outbuildings, the robins, brewer's blackbirds, grackles, eastern and western kingbirds nesting in my treerows and the red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds nesting in the cattails of my marsh, a hawk has no chance at making a surprise attack at my martin colony. All of the bird species I listed (including martins) will drive off any hawk that dares to enter airspace within 1/4 mile of my home base!

Randy

[Martin man RI]

HI Randy, Yes you are correct, I too have many of the others that gang up on the hawks.