Gus, Unfortunately, that is a common occurrence with Bank Swallow colonies on the coast. There is really no way to adequately protect the nests unless the land management agency fences off the top of the dune/bluff. Disturbance to the front of the colony site can also a problem at a site like Plumb—though less-so than actual nest collapse. Since they aren’t protected (not even as a Species of Special Concern despite their widespread declines in NYS/the northeast), it isn’t likely that targeted measures will be undertaken for the swallows there.
The good news is that they are adept at re-nesting, and will sometimes nest in drainpipes like Northern Rough-winged Swallows. We are pretty late in the season for them, but it isn’t out of the question. Cheers- José -- José R. Ramírez-Garofalo Pronouns: He/Him/His PhD Student Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources Rutgers University 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901 From: Gus Keri <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Sat, Jul 16, 2022 at 12:52 PM Subject: [nysbirds-l] Fwd: Bank Swallow nests at Plumb Beach To: Birding alert, NYSBirds, Birding alert <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Updates on these nests: Today, the third nest was totally occluded and the fourth one is half-occluded, and I anticipate it to be gone by the end of the day. The reason: people are camping on the top of the cliff exactly above the nesting wall. It is very sad that the first ever Bank Swallow nesting in Brooklyn will not be successful this year and we won't have any new generation of this species here. Gus Keri. ============ Forwarded message ============ From: Gus Keri <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> To: "Birding alert, NYSBirds, Birding alert"<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2022 20:35:40 -0400 Subject: Bank Swallow nests at Plumb Beach ============ Forwarded message ============ > As some of you know there are few nest holes in Plumb beach for Bank Swallow > this season and this happened here for the first time ever, as far as I know. > For the last couple of weeks, there were total 4 holes in a small sandy wall > that span some 10-15 feet high and 15-20 feet wide. I only saw the swallows > go into three of these holes. > Today, I saw only two open holes while the other two were completely > occluded with sand. > > I remember at the beginning that two or three other holes closed completely > with sand, but this was before they started nesting. > At that time, I thought they make few nests and then choose one or two of > them to be used. > > But this time the issue is different. I have seen a swallow go into one of > the two closed nests few times which made the possibility of nesting bird > inside very high. And this made me think; what if there was a female sitting > on the eggs when the hole collapse! Can she make her way out? Are these > holes connected to each other from the inside to provide an escape? > > The sand in this wall seems to be soft and can collapse easily. This will > put all the other nests at risk. > I have never seen Bank Swallow nests before, so, I have no knowledge of this > trouble. > > I thought some of you might have an answer. > > Does sand collapse cause any harm to the nesting birds? > Is there anything can be done to protect the current nests? > > Gus Keri > -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.northeastbirding.com%2FNYSbirdsWELCOME.htm&data=05%7C01%7Cjose.ramirez.garofalo%40rutgers.edu%7C0748839c767d44ddd91308da675f18de%7Cb92d2b234d35447093ff69aca6632ffe%7C1%7C0%7C637935955386200860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0%2FDxG7LD1I9sOSBAVAxN%2F3hgnEFFKMque%2FesxfFZpQ0%3D&reserved=0> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.northeastbirding.com%2FNYSbirdsRULES.htm&data=05%7C01%7Cjose.ramirez.garofalo%40rutgers.edu%7C0748839c767d44ddd91308da675f18de%7Cb92d2b234d35447093ff69aca6632ffe%7C1%7C0%7C637935955386200860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KzSvDF0PLBofqCdX6LXHftFz5iuSbUYa8cHqKz1MZa8%3D&reserved=0> http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.northeastbirding.com%2FNYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm&data=05%7C01%7Cjose.ramirez.garofalo%40rutgers.edu%7C0748839c767d44ddd91308da675f18de%7Cb92d2b234d35447093ff69aca6632ffe%7C1%7C0%7C637935955386200860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=MFT1HJ8%2Bcv98%2Fh9JR3u2c8Mew7DGg%2BtdKy8T%2FLTOsrk%3D&reserved=0> ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mail-archive.com%2Fnysbirds-l%40cornell.edu%2Fmaillist.html&data=05%7C01%7Cjose.ramirez.garofalo%40rutgers.edu%7C0748839c767d44ddd91308da675f18de%7Cb92d2b234d35447093ff69aca6632ffe%7C1%7C0%7C637935955386200860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=negTe6PUUDQ%2Bm3Lsl5lozxRyCA%2F3K1k3x5Z2DSbXcBA%3D&reserved=0> 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.surfbirds.com%2Fbirdingmail%2FGroup%2FNYSBirds-L&data=05%7C01%7Cjose.ramirez.garofalo%40rutgers.edu%7C0748839c767d44ddd91308da675f18de%7Cb92d2b234d35447093ff69aca6632ffe%7C1%7C0%7C637935955386200860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=MHvch5Iyg8qj34tDSVZehGQAk4zQXGoOBa9SurttNcI%3D&reserved=0> 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbirding.aba.org%2Fmaillist%2FNY01&data=05%7C01%7Cjose.ramirez.garofalo%40rutgers.edu%7C0748839c767d44ddd91308da675f18de%7Cb92d2b234d35447093ff69aca6632ffe%7C1%7C0%7C637935955386200860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=VidK4rz2OCiXR8oQk7XhaT7QqrEgbCPgU0y9f6JI0nM%3D&reserved=0> Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Febird.org%2Fcontent%2Febird%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cjose.ramirez.garofalo%40rutgers.edu%7C0748839c767d44ddd91308da675f18de%7Cb92d2b234d35447093ff69aca6632ffe%7C1%7C0%7C637935955386200860%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=8ptNp5XdXCMBnRycgttyc1Q%2BjHE0g75H6yS%2BaQSLfEs%3D&reserved=0> -- -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
