Further to Bob Paxton's comment about Tree Swallows' love affair with feather lining of their nests, I have found these birds very resourceful with their feather gathering depending on the nature of their local habitat. For years I have monitored nest boxes in Upstate counties of Schenectady, Saratoga, Schoharie and Montgomery. Depending on location, these swallows gather feathers of a wide range of species, as well as in varying quantity. Rural areas are more endowed with local fowl than are suburban areas leading to easier gathering. For instance the nest boxes at the Landis Arboretum in rural Schoharie Co. with roosters crowing in the distance had much larger gatherings of goose, duck and chicken feathers in general than did the boxes at West Hill, a suburban residential area in the Town of Rotterdam in Sch'dy Co where Great Horned Owl feathers made an almost annual appearance.
In some areas the tan body feathers of barnyard geese are very popular, but so can be white feathers from domestic ducks. Less numerous are flank feathers from male Mallard, Wood Duck and body feathers of Wild Turkey. Some of the rarer choices are from Great Blue Heron, Great Horned Owl (body), No. Saw-whet Owl (primaries) and the strangest of all: Common Nighthawk. One nest in Montgomery Co contained 5-6 nighthawk feathers including flight feathers (rectrix and wing) suggesting that this swallow had found a dead nighthawk and was harvesting feathers from it. Nighthawks molt away from the northeastern U.S. spring nesting season. Feathers, flight and body, from local passerines also show up in these nests on rare occasion. But far and away, body feathers of barnyard fowl are the most common Tree Swallow nest lining material in these counties. Bob YunickSchenectady -----Original Message----- From: Robert Paxton <r...@columbia.edu> To: Joseph Wallace <joew...@gmail.com> Cc: NYSBIRDS <NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu> Sent: Mon, Jun 7, 2021 8:35 am Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Barn Swallow question Another element to the white feather game. Swallows (especially tree swallows, but perhaps barns too) habitually decorate their nests with white feathers. Bob Paxton On Sat, Jun 5, 2021 at 10:04 PM Joseph Wallace <joew...@gmail.com> wrote: This is more about bird behavior than rarity, so apologies if it's o/t, but I watched a swallow engage in extraordinary (to me) behavior at Croton Point Park in Westchester today. It started when I spotted something white drifting slowly towards the ground: a large, downy feather. Just as I focused on it, a Barn Swallow snatched it out of the air with its beak. I expected the bird to head off to its nest, but instead it dropped the feather...and then circled and snatched it out of the air again. For the next few minutes, I watched the swallow repeatedly release the feather, do wide loops around it--sometimes feinting in its direction--and then pluck it out of the air. Twice it let the feather land on the grass, retrieving it once while on the wing and once by landing beside it. Finally the swallow did head off, I imagine to line its nest at last. I'd never seen swallows engage in play, but I can't see how this was anything else. Has anyone else here ever witnessed something like this? Thanks--Joe Wallace -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds ABA Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds ABA Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
