O•S•C•A•R© Fida's Pizza Changes Hands - Old Ottawa South

The th MAY 2010 OSCAR - OUR 37 YEAR
Page 23
BACKYARD NATURALIST
by Linda Burr
One spring, when I was a
young girl, my father decided
to build a bird house. When
it was ready, he fastened it to the top
of the clothesline pole, high above the
ground, at the back of our yard. I don’t
suppose we had any real expectations.
We just waited to see what would
happen. But sometimes the most
amazing things can happen when you
least expect it, as this story will show.
It was late May, and most birds
had already started their nests. We
knew that sometimes it takes a whole
year or more for a box to be accepted
by birds for nesting. But the birdhouse
was clearly visible from the back
bedroom windows of our house, and
we kept a close watch on it.
Within a day or two, a pair of tree
swallows came to investigate the box.
They flew around it, and went in to
inspect the interior. It must have been
to their liking, because right there and
then, the swallows decided it was good
enough for them, and they wasted no
time in getting busy making their nest.
We were amazed and delighted
that father’s nest box had been so
quickly and eagerly accepted. Over
the following weeks, we watched
the activities of the swallows closely.
When my sister and I returned home
from school, my mother would tell us
what she had seen the swallows doing
during the day.
For me, the budding young
naturalist, it provided a wonderful
opportunity to observe and learn about
the behaviours of these lovely birds.
I loved the iridescent blue colour
on their backs, and their pure white
bellies. They were truly beautiful
creatures, with their delicate pointed
wings and strong graceful flight. I
came to recognize their bubbly song
as they sat perched in nearby trees
or on the overhead wires around the
house.
Summer of the Tree Swallows
Tree Swallow Photo by Ken Thomas
The birdhouse was up on top of
the clothesline pole at the back of
our yard. One end of the clothesline
was attached to the house on a kind
of pulley, which allowed mother to
raise and lower it. In those days, she
always hung the wet washing out
on the line to dry. But whenever she
moved the clothesline, the pole with
the birdhouse would jiggle a bit.
Mother was anxious about hanging
out the wet clothes on washing day,
and didn’t want to disturb the birds.
She tried to move the clothesline as
gently as possible. But every time, one
of the swallows would poke its head
out of the box and chatter at her, as
if to scold her. In spite of these mild
disturbances, the swallows stayed on.
After a couple of weeks had gone
by, we discovered that the eggs had
hatched. The swallows could now
be seen feeding their young, as they
returned to the birdhouse with food in
their beaks. Then it wasn’t long before
the chicks were large enough to poke
their heads out of the hole, begging
for food. By early July, the chicks
were nearly ready to fledge.
We didn’t witness the moment
when the young swallows took their
first flight away from the nest. It just
seemed that suddenly there was no
activity around the birdhouse – it
seemed empty. Where had they gone?
Were they all right? After watching
those swallows and their tireless
efforts for so many weeks, we were
desperate to know the outcome.
Finally, we spotted the family perched
all in a row on a wire near the house.
The parents seemed to be proudly
showing us their brood. All too soon
they were gone.
In all the years that followed,
no swallows ever returned to that
birdhouse. I think it was quickly
taken over by house sparrows. Much
later, I realized what a rare privilege
it had been for our family to share
this experience together. At such a
late date in May, those swallows must
have been desperate to find a suitable
nesting site. Also, tree swallows
normally prefer to nest in an open
field, and near open water. In Toronto,
our suburban backyard must have
seemed a less than ideal nesting spot.
It was a small miracle that our family
still talks about today.
Tree swallows are cavitynesters,
meaning that in nature, they
nest in hollow trees or snags. In the
city, the cavity-nesters, such as tree
swallows, chickadees, nuthatches,
and woodpeckers, can have difficulty
finding suitable nesting spots. This
is partly because there aren’t too
many hollow or dead trees around.
Another more important reason is that
starlings and house sparrows are very
aggressive and tend to take over all the
good spots. Fortunately, tree swallows
readily take to birdhouses.
Last year, my father built me a
birdhouse – this time for my own
backyard here in Ottawa. I’d better get
it up soon – there might be a desperate
pair of birds out there house-hunting
right now!
Linda Burr lives in Old Ottawa
South and is a biologist and avid
backyard naturalist.