It”s one of the smallest birds to migrate to Lake County. It”s also either loved or hated depending upon where they build their nests. As one dock owner recently told me, “How do I get rid of those pesky little birds that are building nests on my docks?”
Every year hundreds of cliff swallows make their long migration from South America to Lake County. This remarkable little bird weighs only a few ounces and is less than 6 inches long, yet it has little difficulty flying thousands of miles just to nest and raise its young.
Cliff swallows can be identified by their square tail, blue back and white forehead. One reason the cliff swallow nests in Lake County is because of the county”s rich supply of insects and an ideal habitat in which to raise its young.
Swallows only migrate during the daylight hours and they must constantly feed to keep up their strength. Their feeding habits consist of catching flying insects and they can catch even the smallest of these insects.
The swallows spend the winter in Central and South America. They start their northward migration in January and arrive in Northern California in late April and early May.
Upon arriving at their selected nesting area, swallows build their nests in colonies beneath docks or under the eaves of buildings ? always near water. Some of the docks and buildings around the lake will have up to a dozen or more nests. Bridges, such as the one that crosses Rodman Slough, is another popular nesting area.
The female will lay from four to six white eggs. An unusual trait of the cliff swallow is that a female will often move her eggs into the nest of another swallow. Often they will return to the same nest from the previous year.
Swallow nests are gourd-shaped and made from mud and lined with feathers. The birds gather the mud by rubbing their chests and feet in the wet mud. The mud forms little balls and sticks to the swallow”s chest and feet. They then carry it to the nest. The entrance to the nest always points downward. Both the female and male build the nest, which can take up to two weeks to complete. A typical nest can contain as many as 1,500 mud pellets, with each pellet representing a trip to a nearby mud flat.
Both the male and female incubate the eggs, which hatch in 12 to 16 days, and both adults will feed the young. The young are ready to fly about 20 days after hatching.
Swallows start their southward migration in late August and by November they are gone. What is amazing about the bird is that despite its small size, it can migrate all the way to South America.
Whereas swallows are part of the Lake County landscape, they”re not popular with everyone. They tend to build their nests in unwanted places and often become pests ? leaving their droppings on decks and other undesirable places.
Many dock owners around the lake install fine mesh nets around their docks in order to discourage the swallows from nesting. Another method of discouraging swallows is to put up fake owls or hawks on the docks.
One dock owner in the Lakeport area even installed an electronic sound system that emits a shrill squeal when a bird flies near the dock. A few dock owners will even go as far as to destroy the nests. Technically, because the swallow falls under the Migratory Bird Act, destroying a nest that holds eggs or baby birds is illegal.
The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) considers Feb. 15 to Sept. 1 to be the swallow nesting season and the nest cannot be touched or destroyed during this period without a special permit. Permits for destroying a swallow nest can only be issued for health and safety reasons.
Swallows are important in that they help control the insects. They also are an important part of the county”s ecosystem. What”s even more remarkable is this little bird travels thousands of miles just to visit our county.
