July 10, 2021

I was walking down by the Limnology building when I saw a concentrated pile of bird doo....

Video:

 

Still:

IMG_5949

Posted by Ann Althouse at 3:07 PM
Tags: , ,

11 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

JamesL writes:

"The things we see when we walk about with our eyes open. And now that we all carry remarkably good cameras, we can share."

7/10/21, 7:09 PM
Ann Althouse said...

Owen writes:

"Am I right that, just at the end of your wonderful short video “discovering” the birds (swallows, I think), they all opened their mouths wide at the exact same moment? Was Momma inbound with their dinner?"

Yes and I'm not sure. I thought it looked funny ending like that, but it's something I captured just by chance.

Anyone know what those birds are? Distinctive white line next to the beak.

7/10/21, 7:11 PM
Ann Althouse said...

Carol writes:

"Ann, in case someone hasn't said it already, they're cliff swallows. They like to build under bridges too. Def have the white marking unlike the barn swallow."

7/11/21, 6:19 AM
Ann Althouse said...

Cliff swallows

Not light fixture swallows

7/11/21, 6:19 AM
Ann Althouse said...

Ross writes:

"The adult bird is a barn swallow. The bright line on the mouths is a
feature of young birds and is probably a hint that this is a creature
worthy of being fed. Wikipedia has a paragraph on this you can find if
you search for "gape.""

Oh! Now, there's a controversy!

7/11/21, 6:28 AM
Ann Althouse said...

Wikipedia says: "Barn swallow nestlings have prominent red gapes, a feature shown to induce feeding by parent birds."

Red. Not white.

7/11/21, 6:30 AM
Ann Althouse said...

Looking more closely at the still photo, I think the sharp white line is part of the beak. The distinguishing difference between the barn swallows and cliff swallows I'm seeing at bird identification places is a white spot on the forehead. My little birdies don't have that.

7/11/21, 6:37 AM
Ann Althouse said...

Alexa says:

"Baby barn swallows/They fall to of their nests easily. Tried to save on last week that was already weak but by the time I got back from town with appropriate ingredients to feed it, it was too late. Another week in the nest and he could probably have flown. Now I’ll be ready for the next one I guess."

7/11/21, 6:37 AM
Ann Althouse said...

Mark writes:

"The Merlin birding app has a photo showing that white line on the juveniles. The forked tail of the parent flying in also marks it as Barn Swallow.

"Very common, here's a good link at eBird: Barn Swallow - eBird"

7/11/21, 6:50 AM
Ann Althouse said...

13 hours ago, Tom wrote: "Birds are Barn Swallows in your post. Look to be about Hatch + 17-19 days. The adult is getting ready to feed the nestlings a bolus of insects. The nestlings gape to provide a target for the adults."

2 hours ago, I wrote back: "I just put up a comment that said they are cliff swallows and, specifically, not barn swallows. The white mark on the head is distinctive. Do you think that's wrong?"

1 hour ago, Tom wrote back: "Yes. The adults in your video have a forked tail. Cliff Swallows have a tail that is not forked. Also Cliff Swallows nest in mud nests that have a small cavity opening and look like a gourd cut in half attached cut side to a building. Barn Swallows do not nest in that type of nest."

7/11/21, 9:09 AM
Ann Althouse said...

ENS writes:

"The conversation turning on the identity of birds and their nests puts me in mind of the swift tribe, a group of birds whose appearance and behavior caused them to be grouped with the swallows for centuries, even by respected naturalists. Swallows and swifts are a fine example of convergent evolution — two unrelated monophyletic groups evolving similar appearance and habits due to selective pressures and external influences such as habitat, diet, predators, climate, etc.

"In the case of swallows and swifts their similar morphologies and habits arose jointly from the advantages of feeding on flying insects rather than foraging for them on the ground, and the advantages of nesting on cliff faces rather than in trees. When humans began to erect more or less permanent structure with vertical walls both clades evolved species with virtually exclusive associations with humans — barn swallows in the case of the Hirundinidae, and chimney swifts in the case of the Apodidae. (The term Apodidae derives from the Greek meaning “without feet”. Swifts do have feet, but they are so reduced, almost nothing but hooks, that they are unable to perch or stand, yet they are able to cling to rock faces and masonry walls quite tenaciously, even in high winds.)

"Though both tribes have evolved nest forms well-suited to exploiting cliffs and human-built structures, swallows construct their roosts using pellets of local mud as bricks, whereas swifts build theirs almost entirely from loogies. Some people eat them as delicacies — the nests, not the birds."

7/11/21, 3:50 PM

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