From The Monroe News
July 23, 2019
Have you ever been bothered by mosquitoes or other flying insects while enjoying quiet time on your deck or patio?
Have you ever been bothered by mosquitoes or other flying insects while enjoying quiet time on your deck or patio?
If so, let me introduce you to a tree swallow family.
These colorful, high flying, acrobatic creatures may be an answer to enjoying that quiet time on your deck or patio and with added entertainment. During an average day, adult tree swallows soar, swoop, and dive to consume about 2,000 flying insects.
Multiply that by two, a male and female, and four to seven nestlings, you can see how this might improve your outdoor enjoyment.
How can you enjoy these beautiful active birds?
After a one to two-month migration north from California, Mexico and Central America, tree swallows find their way to our area.
They are cavity nesters but are unable to dig their own nest cavities. When planning to start their family, they look for an old woodpecker hole or a cavity in a dead tree or a bluebird nesting box. They nest in a cavity with the same size entrance as the eastern bluebird.
I have two bluebird boxes in my backyard, one used by bluebirds and one used by tree swallows, 75 feet apart and facing each other.