More on my Tree Swallow nest box project

Since 2010 i have been placing numerous nest boxes at a pond near my house. Neville's Pond as most people call it is usually home to 15 or more nesting pairs of Tree Swallows. When i was 13 i noticed these beautiful little blue birds trying to jam themselves into a steel post. The holes in the posts were too small for the swallows to get inside but i watched them trying relentlessly.  The next day my father & I headed down to the pond with a nest box. As i began attaching the box to one of the posts the swallows started fighting over the box. The box was in my hands still!! It was certainly something i had never herd of. Ever since that day i have been building more and more nest boxes to help the birds out as I'm sure there are not enough natural nest cavities available.

Since i began this project I've built and placed over 20 boxes around the pond. In my community i another 10 more boxes. Almost all of the boxes have been used by swallows. Each year i remove last years nest and repair the boxes before the swallows return. I have been able to study these birds up close and i have certainly learned a lot about their behaviour. I noticed that if i purchase white feathers from a craft store and simply hold them out in my hand when the swallows are finishing up nest building that the swallows will come and take them right from my hand! They always line their nests with white feathers. 

In late May when the swallows first arrive they have about a two week window where they are continuously checking out the nest boxes and going from box to box. This offers an amazing photo opportunity. Its simple. Put an interesting perch on top of a couple boxes. Then set up your tripod and wait. This could take hours but eventually everything works out.

As you can see these birds are one of my favourite species of birds. This species is facing a lot of pressure due to pesticides in the environment as well as an unavailability of nesting sites. Recently i learned that Tree Swallows have declined over 40%. I am happy knowing i have helped even a couple swallows nest and raise young. Swallow boxes are easy to build  you just have to remember two things. Entrance hole is 1 1/2" diameter and the floor dimensions should be no smaller then 5"x5".  I find the rest is just personal preference. Look up some plans online, there are a lot.

The Coots Are Back!

When i first began watching and photographing birds it seemed to me that coots were somewhat common and could be seen at local ponds regularly. Last year it seemed coots were almost non existent here on the avalon or as far as i could tell. Now in recent days it seems coots are once again being spotted all over town and this time I'm making sure i get my fill of images before they disappear again.

Besides the few coots around i haven't lucked out with finding any other real interesting birds. On Tuesday fellow photographer Brad James called me with a frantic tone to his voice, "FEMALE LONG -TAILED DUCK AT POND ROAD!!! FULL FRAME SHOTS!!" When i herd those words come out of his mouth i gobbled down my supper and rushed to Kelligrews with hopes of getting some images of this duck. Long Tailed Ducks are quite common around the coast of Newfoundland. However seeing one up close is unheard of. 

When i arrived sure enough the duck was there...but about 200ft away. I decided to wait and see if it would work its way back towards me and Brad. After what seemed like a very long time i decided the light was fading quickly and the chances of this bird staying in the little back pond were slim. So i did what any mental patient or bird photographer would do. I walked across the river in my sneakers and cotton pants in order to be on the same side as the duck. That was a bust, by the time i got in position to shoot the duck had begun feeding closer to the side i was originally on. At this point i really was unsure i was going to get a decent shot. I was wet, cold and far from clean lying in the muddy grass but i walked back around to the other side. Sure enough we got in position and the duck began to work towards us. The sound of our cameras made the duck curious of us. This behaviour is also how i got my images of the coots above. 

The duck made a few close dives before the light faded but in that short time i did get this one image. I cant complain! Not every day you get photo opportunities like this one. It was something Brad & I will certainly remember for years to come.

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Also on Tuesday i filled up a few feeders at Neville's Pond here in Paradise. The feeders have already been visited by the following species:

Junco

Chickadees

Song Sparrow

Blue Jay

Common Grackle

If things keep going the way they are i predict that by winter the feeders will be swamped with birds. Hopefully something real interesting will visit such as a Chaffinch or a Hoary Redpoll. If things go as planned my next post will involve a review of my new Canon 7D Mark ii and possibly some images of my feeder set up!

Cape St.Mary's Ecological Reserve

Sunday morning i got out of bed at 3:00am and headed to Cape St.Mary's Ecological Reserve for the 4th time this year. The cape and its wildlife never get old. If i had the time I'd go 100 times a year. The cape offers such amazing up close looks at everything from nesting seabirds like Northern Gannets & Murres to dozens of newly born lambs on your walk to bird rock. It truly is a special place in the province of Newfoundland Labrador that i believe is a must see for locals and tourists alike.

The image above i captured to show how amazing bird rock is. This massive sea stack is just meters from the mainland and offers great views of the thousands of Gannets that nest all over it. This image shows about 1/4 of the amount of sea birds at the cape. The cliffs all around the general area of bird rock is covered in nesting Murres,Razor ills and Black Guillemot. Also thousands of Black-Legged Kittiwakes nest along the cliffs with the rest of the sea birds.

They nest VERY close to the edge. 

Black-Legged Kittiwakes are amazing at doing acrobat like moves while manoeuvring around the sheer cliffs where they nest. This makes photographing them in flight a challenge. I find that i have to choose one bird to photograph, watch its pattern (They usually do a circle shape) and then predict where it will be about 2 seconds from where it is while I'm looking at it. This doesn't always work because the birds sometimes dive, bank, or land at any given time. After repeating this method over and over again you will come away with a few keepers as i did in the images below.

  

Common & Thick-Billed Murres also nest in massive numbers around the cliffs at the reserve. There is no real technique in photographing these guys besides hopping that the day is overcast and not foggy or sunny. This allows you to properly compose the whites & blacks on the birds. These fat little birds are always fun to watch as they awkwardly hurl themselves at the cliffs. The Razor Bill is the closest know relative of the now extinct Great Auk.

Not much room!

       The image above just goes to show how many murres there are. They are clustered together in very large numbers. Its hard to believe they just lay their one single egg on nothing more then a cluster of their own droppings along the VERY edge of a cliff. But somehow they do this and it works. Just another thing about nature that i find so amazing.

Common Murre

Among the tens of thousands of murres there are a small number of Razorbills that come back each year to nest with the rest of Newfoundland's auks.

Razorbill

Below are more images i captured during the day i sent at the cape. I hope you enjoy them!

Horned Lark