The
Swallows are Coming!
Natural
Insect Control for Horse Farms
by
Alayne Blickle, Horses for Clean Water
One
of my favorite times of the year is mid-March. A very special thing happens each
year around March 20th, the first day of spring. That is the return
of the swallows. We love it on our farm when we first hear the cheery
twitterings of our little feathery friends that marks their return from
Central America. These little birds provide
us with hours of entertainment with their graceful flight acrobatics, darting
about catching insects or swooping to pick up nesting material. Their real
benefit is that they provide us with excellent insect control – without ever
having to buy anything (outside of a nest box or two) or use chemicals. One
swallow consumes about 6,000 insects per day! That’s better than any bug zapper. With
the concerns we all have about the impact of chemicals on our lives, this is a
much safer means of insect control than insecticide use. As horse owners, we
often wrongly believe we are destined to “put up” with flies and insects when we
don’t need to.
There
are several types of swallows native to the Northwest including Violet-green
Swallows, Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows and Cliff Swallows. These voracious
insect eaters spend the winter in Central America, with spring and summer in
North America. They are slender little birds,
about 5 or 6 inches in length, with pointed wings and tails. Their flights are
very fluid and quick. Colors may vary slightly. Violet-greens are white on their
cheeks and flanks with greenish-blue wings and backs. Tree Swallows have similar
markings but with less white on their faces. The throat and undersides of Barn
Swallows are reddish colored with dark brown wings and backs. Cliff swallows are
similarly marked, but duller in color.
Violet-greens
and Tree Swallows are secondary cavity dwellers, meaning they nest in already
created holes and crevices such as those in dead trees and snags or those made
by woodpeckers. Happily for us, they also take very well to nest boxes. Cliff
and Barn Swallows build their own mud nests on the underside of roofs,
overhangs, bridges, cliffs – and in barns. (If these little guys have nested
somewhere where their droppings are making things messy, try placing a board
under their nest to catch droppings. Violet-green and Tree Swallows are much
cleaner than Cliff and Barn Swallows.
Nest
boxes for Violet-greens and Tree Swallows are easy to build or buy and hang in
your yard or farm area. These birds are attracted to them easily. Nesting boxes
must be specific to the type of swallows in your area. Poorly made boxes
encourage non-native species, such as starlings, to move in. They can
out-compete swallows and other native birds. Starlings not only out-compete
swallows, there is some evidence that they can carry EPM, Equine Protozoal
Myeloencephalitis (visit www.yourhorseshealth.com/epm/index.html to
learn more). Consult your local Audubon chapter, birding organization,
cooperative extension office, the library or the internet for advice on the
types and sources of nesting boxes. Again, be sure to get the right nest box for
your area and for the type of bird you want to attract.
On
our farm, we like to help the swallows gather their nesting materials by
collecting horse and dog hair and setting it out in tufts. In April and May when
the Violet-greens begin nesting we watch them swoop down and snatch up the hair
for nesting material. Each female Violet-green will lay four to six eggs and
will incubate them for about two weeks. Both the male and female care for the
young who fledge in 16-24 days. Last year we had four nest boxes full of
Violet-green families that we followed through first flight. Later into the
summer we could still identify some of adolescents. It made us feel quite proud
to watch “our” teenagers successfully catch bugs and enjoy the summer
days.
Each
year, as more and more land is being lost to development or forestry practices
remove dead trees, secondary cavity dwellers like swallows are loosing habitat.
While development seems to be a fact of life and most of us can’t do much about
it, horse owners can help offset that loss by providing suitable living
conditions for beneficial wildlife, such as nesting boxes for Violet-greens. In
this way we can become an asset to the environment. In return, wildlife
enhancement benefits us as horse owners, too.
Good
horsekeeping to you!
For
more information on nest boxes:
·
To
build your own nest box check your library for books such as The Original
Birdhouse Book, by Don McNeil and other books available on this
topic.
·
The
National Audubon Society, 1-212-979-3000 can provide information on your local
Audubon chapter. Either group may have additional information on encouraging
insect-eating birds to your area. Your local chapter may even sell nest
boxes.
·
You
can often receive plans to build nesting boxes from your local County
Cooperative Extension.
·
Check
local feed or garden stores and wild bird supply stores.
------------------------------
Alayne
Renee Blickle, a life-long equestrian and reining competitor is the
creator/director of Horses for Clean Water. HCW offers educational materials,
courses & individual consultations on ways to care for and manage your horse
and the facilities, with an emphasis on environmentally friendly techniques. For
more information on HCW visit the website at www.HorsesforCleanWater.com.
------------------------------
Join
HCW at the following upcoming events:
Manure
Management & the Art of Composting -
In this three in one night you can learn the latest techniques to manage manure,
listen to an expert from WSU discuss the latest on composting and get an update
on the new manure management regulations. King County Library, Covington, WA. Wednesday, April 14th, 6:30 - 8:30pm. For
registration & details contact Horses for Clean Water at 425-432-6116 or ARBlickle@aol.com.
Tour
a Vashon Island Breeding Farm -
Join us on Vashon Island for a free educational
tour of an Arabian breeding farm. This farm features mudless confinement areas
for each of the 13 horses, composting bins for manure management, & 7 acres
of pasture with cross fencing. See baby horses, too! Vashon Island, WA. Saturday, April 24th, 10am - noon. To
register and receive a map contact the King Conservation District at
206-764-3410, ext. 125 or Roseanne.Campagna@kingcd.org.
We're
in Deep Manure Now! At this workshop learn the latest
techniques to manage manure, hear from a successful nursery grower who uses
composted horse manure on his crop farm and get an update on the new manure
management regulations. King County Library, Black Diamond, WA. Wednesday, May
5th, 6:30 - 8:30pm. For registration & details contact Horses for Clean
Water at 425-432-6116 or ARBlickle@aol.com.
Commercial
Boarding Stables Tour.
Tour a boarding facility that actually has pastures in the summer and no mud in
the winter! Cascade Farms in
Enumclaw has won environmental awards & recognition for their excellent
management techniques. See creative techniques for composting & managing
manure, view wildlife enhancement areas. Auburn, WA.
Wednesday, May 19th, 6:30 to 8:30pm. To register and receive a map contact the
King Conservation District at 206-764-3410, ext. 125 or
Roseanne.Campagna@kingcd.org
